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X I B R.A  R.Y 
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or  ILLINOIS 


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'V  : 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  AN  EMPRESS 


THE 


[ 


tOMANCE  OF  AN  EMPRESS 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH  OF 

K.  WALISZEWSKI 


V 

WITH  A PORTRAIT 


NEW 

D.  APPLETON 


YORK 

AND  COMPANY 


1905 


AutJwrizei  Kdiiidn. 


I \ 

CONTENTS 

PART  I— THE  GRAND  DUCHESS 

BOOK  I— FROM  STETTIN  TO  MOSCOW 


CHAP.  PAGB 

I.  CHILDHOOD,  • . • ‘ 3 

II.  ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE, 1 6 

III.  THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE,  ...  66 


BOOK  II— IN  PURSUIT  OF  POWER 


I.  THE  YOUNG  COURT,  .......  97 

II.  THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE, I43 

III.  THE  VICTORY, 1 76 


PART  W—THE  EMPRESS 

BOOK  I— THE  WOMAN 

I.  APPEARANCE— CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT,  . 205 

II.  IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES, 241 


BOOK  II— THE  SOVEREIGN 

I.  THE  ART  OF  RULING,  . 262 

II.  HOME  POLICY, 284 

III.  FOREIGN  POLICY,  3^0 


CONTENTS 


yAii 


( . BOOK  III— THE  FRIEND  OF  THE  PHILOSOPHERS 

CHAP. 


PAGE 


I.  LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES, 
J . CATHERINE  AS  A WRITER,  . 

III.  CATHERINE  AND  EDUCATION, 


330 

353 

361 


BOOK  IV— INNER  ASPECTS 


I.  HOME  LIFE,  . . 371 

II.  FAMILY  LIFE — THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL,  . . . 397 

III.  PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM, 419 


PART  I 


THE  GRAND  DUCHESS 


BOOK  I 

FROM  STETTIN  TO  MOSCOW 


CHAPTER  I 

CHILDHOOD 

I 

Fifty  years  ago  there  was  consternation  in  a 
little  German  town  : a railway  was  to  be  brought 
through  it,  removing,  after  the  manner  of  rail- 
ways, old  landmarks,  cutting  through  old  dwell- 
ings, levelling  old  promenades,  where  generation 
after  generation  had  taken  the  air.  Among  the 
objects  thus  menaced  by  impious  engineers,  to 
the  utter  despair  of  the  people  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, one  tree,  a venerable  lime-tree,  seemed  to 
be  held  in  special  reverence.  In  spite  of  all,  the 
railway  was  brought  through.  The  lime-tree 
was  not,  however,  cut  down  ; it  was  taken  up 
by  the  roots  and  transplanted  elsewhere.  As  a 
special  distinction  it  was  set  up  opposite  the  new 
railway  station,  where  it  showed  its  insensibility 
to  the  honour  by  withering  away.  Then  it  was 
made  into  two  tables  : one  of  them  was  presented 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Prussia,  the  other  to 
Alexandra  Feodorovna,  Empress  of  Russia. 
The  inhabitants  of  Stettin  gave  to  this  tree  the 
name  of  Kaiserlinde,  imperial  lime-tree,  and, 


4 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


according  to  their  account,  it  had  been  planted 
by  a German  princess,  then  known  as  Sophia  of 
Anhalt-Zerbst  (or,  more  familiarly,  Figchen),  who 
had  been  wont  to  play  with  the  townspeople’s 
children  in  the  market-place,  and  who  had  since 
become,  they  knew  not  how.  Empress  of  Russia, 
under  the  name  of  Catherine  the  Great. 

Catherine  had  indeed  passed  a part  of  her  child- 
hood in  the  old  Pomeranian  city.  Was  she  born 
there?  It  is  not  often  that  the  old  dispute  over 
the  birthplace  of  Homer  comes  to  be  renewed 
over  the  birthplaces  of  the  great  personages  of 
modern  history.  This  uncertainty  in  the  case  of 
Catherine  is  one  of  the  special  peculiarities  of  her 
career.  No  register  of  any  parish  in  Stettin  has 
kept  a trace  of  her  name.  In  the  similar  case  of 
the  Princess  of  Wiirtemberg,  wife  of  Paul  I.,  the 
explanation  is  easy  : the  child  was  no  doubt  bap- 
tized by  a clergyman  of  the  Protestant  church,  not 
attached  to  a parish.  But  a note  has  been  dis- 
covered— apparently  authentic — indicating  Dorn- 
burg  as  the  place  where  Catherine  was  born  and 
baptized  ; and  grave  historians  have  founded  on 
this  datum  the  strangest  suppositions.  Dornburg 
was  the  family  seat  of  the  family  of  Anhalt-Zerbst 
zu  Dornburg — that  is  to  say,  of  Catherine’s  family. 
Had  not  her  mother  stayed  there  about  1729, 
and  had  she  not  frequent  occasions  of  seeing  a 
young  prince,  barely  sixteen  years  of  age,  who 
was  enduring,  not  far  from  there,  a tedious 
existence  with  a disagreeable  father?  This 
young  prince,  afterwards  known  as  Frederick  the 
Great,  has  been  designated  by  a German  ‘his- 
torian, Sugenheim,  as  the  ‘father  incognito’  of 
Catherine. 


I /Masson,  whose  conviction  we  should  find  it 
/ard  to  share.  At  this  rate  we  might  indulge 
'^in  similar  suppositions  in  regard  to  every 
illustrious  birth  in  the  history  of  the  eighteenth 
century. 

Catherine,  then,  who  was  later  to  be  called 
Catherine  the  Great,  was  born,  according  to  all 
appearances,  at  Stettin,  and  her  parents,  by  law 
as  by  nature,  so  far  as  we  know,  wefe  called 
Prince  Christian-August  of  Zerbst-Dornburg,  and 
Princess  Jeanne-Elizabeth  of  Holstein,  his  legiti- 
mate wife.  A time  was  to  come,  as  we  shall  see, 
when  the  least  actions  of  this  child,  so  obscurely 
brought  into  the  world,  were  to  be  traced  day 
py  day,  and  almost  hour  by  hour.  It  was  her 
irevenge  upon  destiny. 

But  what,  in  1729,  would  be  signified  by  the 
birth  of  a little  Princess  of  Zerbst  ? The  princely 
house  so  named,  one-  of  those  with  which  the 
Germany  of  the  period  was  swarming,  formed 
one  of  the  eight  branches  of  the  house  of  Anhalt. 
Up  to  the  time  when  an  unexpected  chance 
brought  unexampled  fame,  none  of  these  branches 
had  attained  any  particular  distinction,  and  within 
a short  time  the  final  extinction  of  the  whole  line 
had  cut  short  this  dawn  of  notoriety.  Without 
history  up  to  1729,  the  house  of  Anhalt-Zerbst 
had  ceased  to  exist  in  1793. 


II 


parents  of  Catherine  did  not  live  at 
urg.  Her  father  had  something  else  to  do  : 
k in  fact,  to  make  his  way  in  the  world. 




'H 


A letter  of  Prince  Christian- August  of  Anhai 
Zerbst,  the  official  father  of  the  future  Empres^ 
seems  to  take  away  all  appearance  of  truth  from 
this  hazardous  conjecture.  It  is  dated  from 
Stettin,  May  2,  . 172Q,  and  states  that  on  that 
very  day,  at  half-past  two  in  the  morning,  a 
daughter  had  been  born  to  him  in  that  town. 
This  daughter  can  be  no  other  than  Catherine. 
Christian-August  ought  at  least  to  have  known 
where  his  children  were  born,  even  if  he  were 
a little  uncertain  as  to  how  they  came  into  the 
world.  And  further,  there  is  no  proof  whatever 
that  Dornburg  had  received  within  its  walls  the 
mother  of  Catherine,  not  long  before  the  birth  of  the 
latter:  indeed,  the  contrary  seems  well  established. 
It  is  far  enough  from  Dornburg  and  from  Stettin, 
it  is  at  Paris  that  the  Princess  of  Zerbst  appears 
to  have  passed  a part  at  least  of  the  year  1728. 
Frederick,  as  is  well  known,  never  went  there, 
though  indeed  he  nearly  lost  his  head  in  trying 
to  go.  But  the  imagination  of  German  historians 
is  inexhaustible.  In  default  of  Frederick,  there 
was  at  Paris  in  1728,  in  the  Russian  embassy,  a 
young  man,  the  bastard  of  an  illustrious  family, 
who  certainly  must  have  associated  with  the 
Princess  of  Zerbst.  Behold  us  on  the  trail  of 
another  romance,  another  anonymous  paternity ! 
The  young  man  was  called  Betzky,  and  became 
afterwards  a personage  of  importance.  He  died 
in  St.  Petersburg  at  an  advanced  age,  and  it  was 
reported'  that  Catherine,  who  showered  k.' 
and  gracious  attentions  upon  the  old  man 
accustomed,  when  she  visited  him,  to  bend 
his  arm-chair  and  kiss  his  hand.  T 
enough  for  the  German  translator  of 


CHILDHOOD 


9 


teachers  and  governesses  were  at  that  time  to 
be  found  in  all  the  German  houses  of  any  im- 
portance ; one  of  the  indirect  consequences  of 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  They 
taught  the  French  language,  the  French  manners, 
and  the  French  gallantry.  They  taught  what 
they  knew,  and  most  of  them  knew  nothing 
else.  Thus  Figchen  had  Mile.  Cardel.  She  had 
also  a French  chaplain,  Peraud,  and  a writing- 
master,  also  French,  called  Laurent.  Some 
native  masters  completed  this  well-furnished 
collection  of  pedagogues.  A certain  Wagner 
taught  Figchen  her  maternal  language.  For 
music  she  had  another  German,  named  Roellig. 
In  later  days  it  often  pleased  Catherine  to  call 
up  the  recollection  of  these  first  instructors  of 
her  youth,  half  tenderly,  half  with  a sort  of 
wicked  childish  wit.  She  gave  a place  apart 
to  Mile.  Cardel,  ‘ who  knew  almost  everything 
without  having  learnt  anything,  very  much  like 
her  scholar  ’ ; who  told  her  that  she  had  ‘ an 
awkward  disposition  ’ ; and  who  was  always 
jtelling  her  to  keep  back  her  chin.  ‘ She  con- 
sidered it  excessively  sharp,’  Catherine  tells  us, 
fand  she  said  that  by  sticking  it  out  I knocked 
ifc'ainst  everybody  I came  across.’  The  good 
Illle.  Cardel  had  probably  little  thought  of  the 
encounters  to  which  her  pupil  was  destined. 
I tit  she  did  more  than  setting  up  her  mind  and 
Jc;tting  her  chin  into  line.  She  made  her  read 
Kacine,  Corneille,  and  Moliere.  She  contested 
her  with  the  German  Wagner,  with  his  Teutonic 
pedantry,  his  Pomeranian  diilness,  the  insipidity 
df  his  Prufungen,  of  which  Catherine  always 
■ept  a painful  recollection.  Certainly  she  com- 


lO 


CATH±LKiI\iJti.  li,  wi’ 


Ji'v  C/ 


municated  to  her  something  of  her  own  tempera- 
ment, the  Parisian  temperament,  we  should  say 
nowadays — quick,  alert,  ready-witted.  And — 
must  we  admit  it  ? — she  rendered  her  a still 
greater  service,  to  all  appearance,  in  saving 
her  from  her  mother,  and  not  only  from  the 
blows  that  she  was  wont  to  shower  down  for 
a yes  or  a no — ‘ out  of  ill-temper,  never  for  any 
reason’ — but  especially  from  that  quite  other 
temperament  that  belonged,  as  we  shall  see 
later,  to  the  wife  of  Christian- August : a tem- 
perament made  up  of  intrigue,  of  deception,  of 
low  instincts  and  petty  ambitions,  in  which 
was  reflected  the  whole  soul  of  many  genera- 
tions of  Germanic  princelings.  After  all.  Mile. 
Cardel  really  deserved  the  furs  that  her  pupil 
hastened  to  Send  her  on  arriving  at  St.  Peters- 
burg. 

An  important  part  of  the  education  thus  or- 
ganised was  made  by  Figchen’s  frequent  journeys 
in  the  company  of  her  parents.  Residence  at 
Stettin  had  no  particular  attractions  for  a young/ 
woman  bent  on  pleasure  and  a young  military 
commandant  who  had  been  through  half  Europe. 
Chances  of  change  w ere  thus  welcome,  and  with  a 
large  family  connection  such  chances  were  nev/ 
wanting.  There  were  Zerbst,  Hamburg,  Brunt 
wick,  Plutin,  everywhere  relations,  everywhere 
hospitality,  not  vevy  sumptuous  as  a rule,  b 
"^^ordial.  It  was  at  Eutin,  in  1739,  that  the  Pri 
/cess  Sophia  saw  for  the  first  time  the  man  who 
[she  was  to  deprive  of  a throne  after  havin 
1 received  it  from  him.  Peter  Ulric  of  Holstein,  so 
of  a cousin-german  of  her  mother,  was  then  elevei 
years  of  age.  She  herself  was  ten.  This  firs 


CHILDHOOD 


II 


meeting,  whicii,  at  the  time,  passed  unnoticed, 
did  not  give  her  a favourable  impression — at  least 
so  she  declared  later,  when  she  came  to  write  her 
memoirs.  The  child  seemed  to  her  a weakling. 
She  was  told  that  he  had  a bad  disposition,  and, 
what  appears  incredible,  that  he  had  already  a 
taste  for  drink.  Another  excursion  left  in 


young  imagination  a much  more  profound  trace. 
In  1742  or  1743,  at  Brunswick,  at  the  house  of 
the  Dowager-Duchess  who  had  brought  up  her 
mother,  a canon  of  the  church,  expert  in  chiro- 
mancy, bethought  himself  to  see  in  her  hand  no 
less  than  three  crowns,  though  'he  could  see 
none  in  the  hand  of  the  pretty  Princess  of  Bevern, 
for  whom  they  were  seeking  just  then  a high 
marriage.  To  find  a crown  along  with  a husband 
— that  was  the  common  dream  of  all  these  Ger- 
man princesses. 

At  Berlin  Figchen  saw  Frederick,  but  without 
his  paying  her  more  attention  than  was  natural, 
or  her  caring  greatly  what  he  thought  of  her. 
He  was  a great  king  on  the  threshold  of  a mag- 
nificent career  ; she  was  but  a little  girl,  destined, 
to  all  appearance,  to  be  the  ornament  of  some 
infinitesimal  court  lost  in  the  depths  of  the 
empire. 

All  this  was  but  the  common  life  and  education 
of  all  the  German  princesses  of  the  time.  Later 
on  Catherine  attempted,  by  a sort  of  coquetry,  to 
bridge  over  the  gaps  and  insufficiencies  of  this  edu- 
cation. ‘ What  would  you  have  ? ’ she  said  ; ‘ I 
was  brought  up  wdth  the  idea  of  marrying  some 
little  neighbouring  prince,  and  I was  taught  as 
much  as  that  demanded.  Mile.  Cardel  and  I 
had  no  thought  of  thisV  The  Baroness  von 


12 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Prlntzen,  maid  of  honour  to  the  Princess  of  Zerbst, 
did  not  hesitate  to  declare  that,  on  her  part,  with 
the  closest  opportunities  of  observing  the  studies 
and  progress  of  the  future  empress,  she  had  never 
seen  in  her  any  exceptional  qualities  or  faculties. 
She  expected  her  to  turn  out  ‘ an  ordinary  woman.’ 
Mile.  Cardel  was  equally  far  from  thinking,  to  all 
appearance,  that  in  looking  after  the  behaviour  of 
her  pupil  she  was  {as  the  enthusiastic  Diderot  was 
one  day  to  declare)  ‘ the  candlestick  bearing  the 
light  of  the  age.’ 


Ill 

There  was  something,  nevertheless,  in  this 
mediocre  existence  that  might  already  remind  the 
Princess  Sophia  of  her  future  destiny.  She  was 
but  a little  German  Princess,  brought  up  in  a 
little  German  town,  with  a desolate  sandy  waste 
for  horizon.  But  on  this  region  lay  the  mighty 
shadow  of  a neighbouring  power.  This  very 
province,  not  so  long  before,  had  seen  a strange 
uniform  in  its  towns,  had  felt  the  growing  pres- 
tige of  a power,  newly  come  into  Europe,  and 
already  terrifying  and  astonishing  the  nations, 
awakening  infinite  hopes  and  fears.  At  Stettin 
even,  the  details  of  the  siege  held  against  the 
armies  of  the  great  White  Czar  were  fresh  in 
all  memories.  In  the  family  of  Figchen,  Russia, 
the  great  and  mysterious  Russia,  her  innumerable 
soldiers,  her  exhaustless  riches,  her  absolute 
sovereigns,  furnished  a favourite  theme  for  dis- 
cussion, into  which,  perhaps,  there  came  some 
vague  longings,  some  obscure  presentiments. 
Why  not?  With  the  marriages  which  had  united 


CHILDHOOD 


»3 


y daughter  of  Peter  I.  to  a Duke  of  Holstein,  a 
Prand-daughter  of  Ivan,  the  brother  of  Peter,  to 
% Duke  of  Brunswick,  a whole  network  of  alli- 
an(i;es,  affinities,  and  reciprocal  attractions  had 
been  established  between  the  great  monarchy  of 
the  North  and  the  vast  tribe  of  meagre  German 
sovereignties  bordering  on  the  immense  empire. 
And  the  family  of  Figchen  was  brought  into 
particular  association  with  all  this.  When,  in 
1739,  Figchen  met  her  cousin  Peter  Ulric  at 
Eutin,  she  knew  that  his  mother  had  been  a 
Russian  Czarevna,  a daughter  of  Peter  the  Great. 
She  knew,  too,  the  story  of  that  other  daughter 
of  Peter  the  Great,  Elizabeth,  who  had  so  nearly 
been  her  mother’s  sister-in-law. 

And  now,  all  unexpectedly,  came  the  news  of 
the  accession  to  the  crown  of  Russia  of  this  very 
Princess,  the  sorrow ing.yf^z«z/(?  of  Prince  Karl- 
August  of  Holstein.  On  December  9,  1741,  by 
one  of  those  cotips  de  thddtre  which  were  so  fre- 
quent in  the  history  of  the  Northern  court, 
Elizabeth  had  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  the 
little  Ivan  of  Brunswick  and  to  the  regency  of 
his  mother.  How  the  echo  of  this  event  must 
have  sounded  in  the  ears  of  Catherine  and  her 
family ! Separated  by  the  cruelty  of  fate  from 
the  husband  of  her  choice,  the  new  Empress,  it 
was  known,  kept  a tender  feeling,  not  only  for 
the  person  of  the  young  Prince,  but  for  all  his 
family.  She  had  but  lately  asked  for  the  por- 
traits of  his  surviving  brothers : she  was  not 
likely  to.  forget  his  sister.  The  predictions  of  the 
palmist  canon  must  have  come  back  to  the  mind 
of  Eigchen’s  mother.  Certainly  she  did  not  fail 
to  write  at  once  to  her  cousin,  and  to  send  her 


14 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


congratulations.  The  reply  was  quite  encoui; 
aging.  Amiable,  affectionate  even,  Elizabet.^ 
showed  herself  grateful  for  all  these  kind  atten 
tions,  and  demanded  yet  another  portrait — that 
of  her  sister,  the  Princess  of  Holstein,  mother  of 
Prince  Peter  Ulric.  Evidently  she  was  making 
a collection  of  them.  What  was  all  the  mystery 
about 

The  mystery  was  soon  unveiled.  In  January 
1742  Prince  Peter  Ulric,  ‘the  little  devil,’  as  the 
Czarina  Anna  Ivanovna  was  accustomed  to  call 
him,  rendered  uneasy  by  his  too  close  relation- 
ship with  the  reigning  house  of  Russia — the  little 
cousin  whom  Figchen  had  one  day  met — dis- 
appeared suddenly  from  Kiel,  where  he  usually 
lived,  and  reappeared  a few  weeks  later  at  St. 
Petersburg.  Elizabeth  had  sent  for  him  in  order 
to  proclaim  him  solemnly  as  her  heir. 

Here,  at  all  events,  was  an  occurrence  of  no 
uncertain  significance.  It  was  the  Holstein 
blood — Figchen’s  mother’s — that  triumphed  in 
Russia  to  the  exclusion  of  that  of  Brunswick. 
Holstein  or  Brunswick,  the  posterity  of  Peter  the 
Great  or  that  of  his  elder  brother  Ivan,  both 
deceased  without  direct  male  heirs  : the  whole 
history  of  the  house  of  Russia  since  1725  had 
been  implicated  in  this  dilemma  ; now  Holstein 
had  got  the  upper  hand,  and  the  fortune  of  the 
new  Prince  Imperial,  as  yet  scarcely  established, 
began  to  reflect  itself  upon  his  obscure  German 
relations.  It  extended  even  to  Stettin.  In  the 
month  of  July  1742  the  father  of  Figchen  was 
raised  by  Frederick  to  the  grade  of  Field- Marshal 
— a politeness  evidently  intended  for  Elizabeth 
and  her  nephew.  In  September  a Secretary  of 


CHILDHOOD 


15 


the  Russian  Embassy  at  Berlin  brought  to  the 
Princess  of  Zerbst  the  portrait  of  the  Czarina  in 
a frame  of  maofnificent  diamonds.  At  the  end  of 
the  year  Figchen  accompanied  her  mother  to 
Berlin,  where  the  celebrated  painter  Pesne  was 
intrusted  with  the  painting  of  her  portrait. 
Figchen  knew  that  the  portrait  was  to  be  sent 
to  St.  Petersburg,  where,  no  doubt,  Elizabeth 
would  not  be  the  only  one  to  admire  it. 

A year  passed  without  bringing  anything  de- 
cisive. At  the  end  of  1743.  the  whole  family 
was  found  at  Zerbst : the  extinction  of  the  eldest 
branch  had  recently  caused  the  succession  of 
Christian- August’s  brother  to  the  principality  of 
that  name.  Christmas  was  gaily  kept.  There 
was  this  new  good  luck,  there  were  doubtless 
some  happy  hopes  for  the  future,  dreams,  per- 
haps, more  audacious  still.  The  new  year  was  be- 
ginning gaily,  when  an  express  courier,  who  had 
ridden  post-haste  from  Berlin,  brought  startling 
news  to  the  petulant  Jeanne-Elizabeth  and  her 
graver  spouse.  This  time  the  oracles  gave  open 
voice,  and  palmistry  won  a clear  triumph.  The 
courier  brought  a letter  from  Briimmer,  Master  of 
the  Household  of  the  Grand  Duke  Peter,  for- 
merly Peter  Ulric  of  Holstein,  and  this  letter 
was  addressed  to  the  Princess  Jeanne-Elizabeth 
inviting  her  to  come  at  once,  with  her  daughto 
to  the  Imperial  Court  of  Russia. 


i6 


CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


CHAPTER  II 

ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA — MARRIAGE 
I 

BrOmmer  was  an  old  acquaintance  of  the  Princess 
Jeanne-Elizabeth.  He  had  been  the  tutor  of  the 
Grand  Duke,  and  had  doubtless  accompanied 
his  pupil  to  Eutin.  His  letter  was  long,  and 
filled  with  minute  directions.  The  Princess  was 
to  lose  as  little  time  as  possible  in  preparing  for 
the  journey,  and  she  was  to  reduce  her  suite  to 
the  bare  necessary — a maid  of  honour,  two  maids, 
an  officer,  a cook,  three  or  four  lackeys.  At 
Riga  she  would  find  a suitable  escort,  which 
would  conduct  her  to  the  place  of  residence  of 
the  court.  It  was  expressly  stipulated  that  her 
husband  was  not  to  accompany  her.  She  was 
to  keep  absolute  silence  as  to  the  purpose  of 
her  journey.  If  she  were  questioned,  she  was 
to  answer  that  she  was  going  to  see  the  Empress 
in  order  to  thank  her  for  all  the  kindness  she 
had  shown  her.  She  might,  however,  confide  in 
Frederick  it.,  who  was  in  the  secret.  A bill  of 
exchange  on  a Berlin  banker,  to  cover  the  ex- 
penses of  the  journey,  accompanied  the  letter. 
The  sum  was  modest — 10,000  roubles, — but  it 
was  important,  Brummer  explained,  not  to  attract 
attention  by  sending  a large  sum.  Once  in 
Russia,  the  Princess  should  want  for  nothing. 

It  was  evidently  in  the  name  ot  the  Empress 
.that  Brummer  sent  this  invitation,  so  much  like 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  17 

an  order,  and  these  peremptory  instructions. 
But  he  gave  no  further  explanation  as  to  the 
intentions  of  the  Czarina.  Another  explained  it 
for  him.  Two  hours  after  the  arrival  of  the  first 
courier,  a second  followed,  bearing  a letter  from 
the  King  of  Prussia.  Frederick  dotted  all  the 
is,  and  he  did  not  fail  to  take  to  himself  all  the 
credit  of  Elizabeth’s  choice  of  the  young  Princess 
of  Zerbst  to  be  the  companion  of  his  nephew  and 
successor.  He  had  in  truth  had  something  to 
do  with  it,  and  in  this  manner. 

Naturally,  there  had  been  no  few  matrimonial 
competitions  in  regard  to  ‘the  little  devil,’  now 
heir  to  so  splendid  a crown.  Soon  every  notable 
person  at  court,  the  most  intriguing  court  in 
Europe — from  the  ex-tutor  of  the  Grand  Duke, 
the  German  Briimmer,  to  the  physician-in- 
ordinary of  Elizabeth,  the  Frenchman  Lestocq, — 
had  a candidate  of  his  own,  and  a following  for 
his  candidate.  Now  it  was  a French  Princess, 
now  a Saxon  Princess,  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Poland,  now  a sister  of  the  King  of  Prussia. 
Backed  by  Bestoujef,  the  all-powerful  Chancellor 
of  the  empire,  the  Saxon  project  had  at  one 
moment  the  greatest  chances  of  success.  ‘ The 
court  of  Saxony,  rampant  slave  of  Russia,’ 
wrote  Frederick  later,  ‘ desired  the  success  of 
Marianne,  second  daughter  of  the  King  of 
Poland,  for  the  increase  of  its  own  credit.  . . . 
The  Russian  ministers,  whose  venality  would, 
I think,  have  put  the  Empress  herself  up  to 
auction,  sold  a premature  contract  of  marriage  ■: 
they  received  large  sums  of  money,  and  the  King 
of  Poland  nothing  but  words.’ 

Sixteen  years  of  age,  pretty,  well  brought  up, 


i8  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

the  Princess  of  Saxony  was  not  merely  a suitable 
natch ; the  alliance  would  serve  as  basis  of  a 
^ast  combination,  destined,  so  Bestoujef  thought, 
to  reunite  Russia,  Saxony,  Austria,  Holland, 
and  England,  three-quarters  of  Europe,  against 
Prussia  and  France.  The  combination  fell 
through,  and  P'rederick  did  his  best  to  aid  its 
fall.  He  refused,  however,  to  checkmate  it  by 
putting  forward  his  sister,  the  Princess  Ulrica, 
who  would  have  suited  Elizabeth.  ‘Nothing 
would  be  more  barbarous,’  he  said,  ‘ than  to 
sacrifice  the  Princess.’  For  a time  he  left  his 
envoy  Mardefeldt  to  his  own  resources,  which  were 
small,  and  to  those  of  his  French  colleague.  La 
Chetardie,  which,  for  the  moment,  were  no  better. 
Mardefeldt  had  been  in  disgrace  for  some  time, 
and  Elizabeth  had  been  on  the  point  of  demand- 
ing his  recall.  As  for  La  Chetardie,  after  having 
played  so  Important  a role  at  the  accession  of  the 
new  Czarina,  he  was  foolish  enough  to  let  slip  a 
position  for  which  he  had  fought  so  hard.  He 
had  left  his  post,  and,  on  his  return,  had  not  met 
with  the  same  favour.  His  court  did  nothing  on 
his  behalf,  and  obliged  him  to  be  always  asking 
for  instructions.  He  would  inquire  ‘if  the  king 
had  still  the  same  repugnance  that  he  had  shown 
at  the  accession  of  the  Czarina  to  the  marriage 
of  the  Grand  Duke  with  one  of  the  Princesses 
(avec  une  des  Madames).’ 

But  Frederick  was  on  the  watch.  It  was  he 
who  had  had  the  idea  of  sending  to  St.  Peters- 
burg the  portrait  painted  by  Pesne  at  Berlin. 
A surviving  brother  of  the  mother  of  Figchen, 
Prince  August  of  Holstein,  had  been  commis- 
sioned to  present  it  to  the  Czarina.  Pesne  was 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  19 

getting  old,  and  the  portrait,  it  appears,  was  not 
good.  It  had  nevertheless  the  good  fortune  to 
please  the  Empress  and  her  nephew.  At  the 
decisive  moment,  in  November  1743,  Mardefeldt 
received  orders  to  put  resolutely  forward  the 
Princess  of  Zerbst,  or,  if  she  would  not  do, 
one  of  the  Princesses  of  Hesse- Darmstadt.  In 
default  of  personal  influence,  the  Prussian  agent 
and  his  French  colleague  succeeded  in  winning 
over  Briimmer  and  Lestocq,  and  victory  (so 
La  Chetardie  testifles)  was  the  price  of  this 
alliance.  ‘ They  have  impressed  upon  the 
Czarina  that  a Princess  of  an  important  house 
would  be  less  docile.  . . . They  have  adroitly 
made  use  of  some  priest  to  insinuate  to  her 
Majesty  that,  seeing  the  small  difference  between 
the  two  religions,  a Catholic  Princess  would  be 
more  dangerous.’  Perhaps  in  the  same  order 
of  ideas  they  dwelt  on  the  agreeable  insignifi- 
cance of  the  Prince  of  Zerbst,  ‘a  good  fellow 
in  his  way,  but  of  a quite  unusual  stupidity,’ 
says  La  Chdtardie.  In  short,  at  the  beginning 
of  December,  Elizabeth  charged  Briimmer  to 
write  the  letter  which,  a few  weeks  later,  revolu- 
tionised the  peaceful  court  in  which  Catherine 
had  grown  up  under  the  benevolent  eye  of 
Mile.  Cardel. 


II 

The  preparations  of  the  Princess  Jeanne- 
Elizabeth  and  her  daughter  were  as  brief  as 
Briimmer  could  have  desired.  Figchen  did  not 
even  wait  for  a new  outfit.  ‘ Two  or  three 
dresses,  a dozen  chemises,  the  same  amount  of 


20 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Stocking'S  and  handkerchiefs  ’ — that  was  all  that 
she  took  with  her.  Since  they  were  to  want  for 
nothing,  haste  and  away ! ‘ She  only  lacks  wings 

to  g'o  quicker,’  wrote  Brlimmer  to  Elizabeth. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  Princess  took 
much  trouble  to  give  any  sort  of  ^clat  to  her 
daughter’s  first  appearance  in  Russia.  In  follow- 
ing the  correspondence  which  she  carried  on  at 
the  time  with  Frederick,  one  is  surprised  to  see 
how  small  a place  was  taken  in  her  plans  by 
the  future  Grand  Duchess.  Was  it  really  on 
account  of  Figchen’s  chances  of  marriage  that 
she  was  takingtte^journey  to  Russia?  It  might 
well  be  doubted  ; she  scarcely  makes  the  slightest 
allusion  to  it.  It  is  of  herself  that  she  thinks 
chiefly,  the  vast  projects  that  swarm  in  her 
brain,  and  that  she  is  in  hopes  of  developing  on 
a stage  worthy  of  her ; the  services  that  she 
professes  to  render  to  her  royal  protector,  and 
for  which  she  seems  to  claim  a decent  recom- 
pense in  advance.  So  we  shall  see  her  act  at 
St.  Petersburg  and  at  Moscow. 

Did  Figchen  know  what  was  in  the  air,  and 
for  what  reason,  good  or  bad,  she  had  been  told 
to  pack  up  her  things?  The  point  is  contested. 
She  must  have  been  aware  that  it  was  some- 
thing more  than  a simple  excursion  like  those 
she  had  made  to  Hamburg  and  to  Eutin.  The 
extent  and  the  vigour  of  the  debates  between 
her  father  and  mother  before  leaving,  the  un- 
usual solemnity  of  the  leave-taking  with  her 
uncle,  the  reigning  Prince,  Jean  Louis,  and  the 
not  less  exceptional  magnificence  of  the  present 
— a beautiful  blue  stuff  embroidered  with  silver 
wire  — with  which  he  accompanied  his  last 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  21 

effusions : all  that  betokened  something  extra- 
ordinary. 

The  departure  took  place  on  the  10th  or  12th 
of  JanuaQf  and  was  without  incident.  .4:^ 

There  is  stHrsnown  at  the  Rathhaus  of  Zerbst 
the  cup  in  which  the  Princess  Jeanne-Elizabeth 
drank  the  health  of  the  notabilities  of  the  town, 
gathered  together  with  great  ceremony  to  bid 
her  farewell.  This  is  probably  only  a legend. 

One  incident,  however,  occurred  at  the  moment 
of  departure.  After  having  tenderly  embraced 
his  daughter.  Prince  Christian-August  put  in  her 
hands  a large  book  which  he  bade  her  preserve 
with  care,  adding,  mysteriously  enough,  that  she 
might  soon  have  occasion  to.  consult  it.  At  the 
same  time  he  confided  to  his  wife  a manuscript  in 
his  handwriting,  which  she  was  to  pass  on  to  her 
daughter,  after  having  absorbed  and  meditated 
upon  its  contents.  The  book  was  the  treatise  of 
Heineccius  on  the  G'feek'~refey1on.  The  manu- 
script fruit  of  Christian-August's  Tecent  watches 
and  meditations  was  entitled  Pro  Menioria,  and 
dealt  chiefly  with  the  question  whether  Rigchen 
could  not,  ‘by  some  arrangement  or  other,’ 
become  Grand  Duchess  without  changing  her 
religion.  This  was  the  great  concern  of  Chris- 
tian-August, and  the  conjugal  controversy  which 
had  accompanied  the  preparations  for  departure, 
and  which  had  awakened  the  attention  of 
Figchen,  had  but  this  one  object ; Christian 
August  showing  himself  intractable  on  the 
subject,  and  Jeanne-Elizabeth  much  more  dis- 
posed to  admit  the  necessities  imposed  by  the 
new  destiny  of  her  daughter.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  Figchen’s  father  had  resolved  to 


22 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


arm  his  daughter  against  the  temptations  that 
might  fall  in  her  way.  The  treatise  of  Heinec- 
cius  was  to  serve  this  purpose.  It  was  the 
heavy  artillery  of  the  fortress.  In  the  Pro 

Memoria  followed  considerations  and  recom- 
mendations of  another  order,  in  which  the 
German  practical  spirit  had  its  share ; not 
without  some  reflection  of  the  petty  ways  of  a 
court  like  that  of  Zerbst  or  Stettin.  The  future 
-7^  Grand  Duchess  was  advised  to  show  the  greatest 
respect  and  the  most  entire  obedience  towards 
those  on  whom  her  future  would  depend.  She 
would  place  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Prince 
her  husband  above  that  of  all  the  world.  She 
would  avoid  too  intimate  relations  with  no 
matter  whom  of  her  associates.  She  would 
speak  to  no  one  in  asides  in  a public  assembly. 
She  would  keep  her  pocket-money  to  herself, 
so  as  not  to  come  under  the  dependence  of  a 
maitresse  de  cour.  Finally,  she  would  take 
care  to  meddle  with  none  of  the  affairs  of 
( government.  All  this  was  expressed  in  a jargon 
which  gives  a curious  specimen  of  the  current 
language  of  the  time,  the  German  that 
Frederick  pfofessed  to  despise — not  without 
reason.  ‘Nicht  in  Familiarite  oder  Badinage 
zu  entriren,  sondern  allezeit  einigen  Egard  sich 
mbglichst  conserviren.  In  keine  Regierungs- 
sachen  zu  entriren  um  den  Senat  nicht  aigriren;’ 
and  so  forth. 

Two  months  later  Figchen  thanked  her  father 
with  effusion  for  his  ‘ gracious  instructions.’  We 
shall  soon  see  how  much  she  profited  by  them. 

At  Berlin,  where  the  two  princesses  stayed  for 
some  days,  the  future  Empress  saw  Erederick 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE 


23 


jdie  rirpgt  fnr  flip  timp  in  her  life.  At 

ScTiwedt,  on  tKe  Oder,  she  said  good-bye  for 
ever  to  her  father,  who  had  accompanied  the 
travellers  thus  far.  He  returned  to  Stettin ; 
Jeanne- Elizabeth  set  out  for  Riga,  by  way  of 
Stargard  and  Memel.  The  journey,  especially  at 
this  time  of  the  year,  was  anything  but  agreeable. 
There  was  no  snow,  but  the  cold  was  so  intense 
that  the  two  women  were  obliged  to  cover  their 
faces  with  a mask.  Then  there  were  no  com- 
fortable quarters  in  which  to  rest.  The  orders 
of  Frederick,  who  had  commended  the  Countess 
of  Reinbek — the  name  under  which  the  Princess 
was  travelling — to  the  care  of  the  Prussian  burgo- 
masters and  posting-house  keepers,  served  them 
in  little  stead. . ‘ As  the  rooms  in  the  posting- 
houses  were  not  warmed,’  wrote  the  Princess, 
l‘we  had  to  take  refuge  in  the  landlord’s  room, 
twhich  was  just  like  a pig-sty  ; husband,  wife, 
watch-dog,  fovvls,  and  children  all  slept  pell-mell 
in  cradles,  beds,  mattresses,  and  behind_the  stove.’ 
It  was  w'orse  still  beyond  Memel.  There  were 
not  even  post-horses  to  be  had.  Horses  had  to 
be  borrowed  from  the  peasants : not  less  than 
twenty- four  were  requfred  to  drag  the  four  heavy 
berlines  in  which  the  Princess  and  her  suite  were 
travelling.  Sledges  had  been  fastened  on  behind 
the  carriages,  in  preparation  for  the  snow  that 
might  be  found  further  north.  This  gave  a 
more  picturesque  air  to  the  caravan,  but  did  not 
hasten  its  progress.  The  advance  was  slow,  and 
Figchen  had  an  indigestion  through  drinking  the 
bfej*  of  the  country. 

*^hey  arrived  at  Mittau  on  the  5th  of  February, 
in  a state  of  exhaustion.  Here  they  met  with  a 


24  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

y 

better  reception,  and  the  pride  of  Jeanne-Eliza- 
beth,  secretly  wounded  by  the  familiarity  that  the 
Countess  of  Reinbek  had  had  to  endure  from 
posting-house  keepers,  received  its  first  satisfac- 
tion. There  was  a Russian  garrison  at  Mittau, 
and  the  commandant.  Colonel  Voieikof,  exerted 
himself  to  do  the  honours  of  the  place  to  so 
near  a relative  of  his  sovereign.  Next  day 
they  reached  Riga. 

v^And  suddenly,  as  in  a pantomime,  the  scene 
changed.  The  letters  of  the  Princess  to  her 
husband  were  quite  effusive  over  this  unexpected 
coup  de  thMtre ; the  civil  and  military  authorities 
presenting  themselves  at  the  entrance  to  the 
town,  under  the  command  of  the  Vice-Governor, 
Prince  Dolgorouki,  another  high  functionary, 
Siemiene  Kirillovitch  Narychkine,  ex-ambassador 
at  London,  with  a state  chariot,  cannon  firing 
salutes  on  the  way  to  the  castle.  And  what 
splendour  in  the  castle,  prepared  for  the  reception 
of  these  foreign  guests  ! Rooms  magnificently 
decorated,  sentries  at  all  the  doors,  couriers  on  all 
the  staircases,  drums  beating  in  the  court.  The 
salons,  lit  by  a thousand  tapers,  are  crowded  with 
people : court  etiquette,  kissing  of  hands,  obeis- 
ances to  the  ground,  magnificent  uniforms,  mar- 
vellous toilettes,  dazzling  diamonds,  velvet,  silk, 
gold,  a profusion  never  seen,  never  heard  of 
before.  To  Jeanne-Elizabeth  it  seems  as  if  her 
head  is  turning,  as  if  she  is  in  a dream.  ‘ When 
I sit  down  to  table,’  she  writes,  ‘ the  trumpets  in 
the  house,  the  drums,  flutes,  and  hautboys  of  the 
guard  outside,  sound  a salute.  It  always  seems 
to  me  that  I must  be  in  the  suite  of  Her  Imperial 
Majesty  or  of  some  great  princess ; it  never 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE 


enters  into  my  head  that  all  this  is  for  poor  me, 
accustomed  as  I am  to  have  only  the  drum 
beaten  for  me,  and  sometimes  not  even  that.’ 
She  takes  all  the  honour,  however,  and  with  the 
greatest  delight.  As  for  Figchen,  we  know 
nothing  of  the  impression  produced  on  her  by 
all  this  riches  and  magnificence,  so  suddenly  un- 
folded before  her.  Without  doubt,  it  must  have 
been  profound.  Russia,  the  great  mysterious 
Russia,  opened  before  her,  giving  her  a foretaste 
of  future  splendours. 

On  February  9th  they  set  out  for  St.  Peters- 
burg,  where,  by  the  will  of  the  Czarina,  they  were 
to  stay  for  a few  days,  before  rejoining  her  at 
Moscow,  and  see  that  their  toilettes  were  con- 
formed to  the  fashion  of  the  country.  This~was 
Elizabeth’s  delicate  way  of  repairing  the  defi- 
ciences,  known  or  guessed,  of  Figchen’s  wardrobe. 
Assuredly,  with  her  three  dresses  and  her  dozen 
chgmises,  the  future  Grand  Duchess  would  cut  a 
sorry  figure  at  a court  where  all  the  splendours 
met  together.  The  Czarina  herself  had  15,000 
silk  dresses,  and  500Q  pairs  of  shoes ! Catherine 
did  not  mind,  in  Idter  days,  recalling  her  poverty 
at  the  time  when  she  arrived  in  her  new  country. 
She  seemed  to  herself  to  have  paid  her  debG 

Needless  to  say,  the  heavy  German  berlines 
with  their  odd  equipment  had  been  left  behind  at 
Mittau.  Another  sort  of  train  was  now  to  con- 
duct the  two  travellers  on  their  way  to  fortune. 
The  Princess  of  Zerbst  describes  it  thus  : ‘(i)  a 
detachment  with  a lieutenant  of  cuirassiers  of 
the  corps  of  His  Imperial  Highness,  named  the 
Holstein  Regiment;  (2)  the  Chamberlain,  Prince 
Narychkine  ; (3)  an  equerry  ; (4)  an  officer  of  the 


20 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Isma'ilovski  Guards,  who  fills  the  place  of  gentle- 
man-in-waiting ; (5)  a major-domo  ; (6)  a confec- 
tioner ; (7)  cooks  and  under-cooks,  to  I know  not 
what  extent ; (8)  a butler  and  under-butler  ; (9)  a 
man  for  the  coffee  ; ( i o)  eight  lackeys  ; ( 1 1 ) two 
grenadiers  of  the  Ismailovski  Guards;  (12)  two 
quarter-masters;  (13)  any  number  of  sledges  and 
stable-boys. — Among  the  sledges  is  one  named  Les 
Linges — Her  Majesty’s  linen,  that  is.  It  is  scarlet, 
and  decked  with  gold,  lined  inside  with  sable.  It 
has  silk  cushions,  coverings  of  the  same  stuff,  above 
which  is  placed  one  that  has  just  been  sent  me 
with  the  pelisses  (a  present  from  the  Empress, 
brought  by  Narychkine).  My  daughter  and  I are 
to  have  this  sledge,  where  we  shall  lie  at  full  length. 
La  Kayn  (maid  of  honour  of  the  Princess)  has 
one  to  herself,  not  such  a fine  one.’  Further  on, 
Jeanne-Elizabeth  grows  yet  more  eloquent  over 
the  perfections  of  the  marvellous  imperial  sledge  : 
‘ It  is  extremely  long.  The  top  is  like  our 
German  chairs.  It  is  hung  with  red  cloth  striped 
with  silver.  There  is  fur  all  round  the  bottom. 
On  that  are  placed  a feather  bed  and  damask 
cushions  ; above  that  again,  a satin  covering,  very 
neat  and  nice,  on  which  one  lies  down.  Under 
one’s  head  are  yet  more  cushions,  and  one  puts 
over  one  the  furred  coverings,  so  it  is  exactly 
like  being  in  a bed.  For  the  rest,  the  long  space 
between  the  driver’s  seat  and  the  covered  part 
serves  for  two  purposes,  and  is  at  the  same  time 
useful  in  regard  to  the  comfort  of  the  conveyance, 
because,  whatever  rut  it  passes  over  in  the  road, 
it  can  pass  over  without  jolting ; and  the  bottom 
of  this  space  is  made  up  of  boxes,  in  which  one 
can  put  wh?jt  one  likes.  By  day  it  serves  for  the 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  27 

gentlemen  in  attendance,  and  by  night  for  the 
servants,  who  can  sleep  there  at  full  length. 
These  constructions  are  drawn  by  six  horses, 
harnessed  two  and  two,  and  cannot  be  upset.  It 
is  all  the  invention  of  Peter  the  Great.’ 

Elizabeth  had  left  St.  Petersburg  on  the  21st 
January.  Nevertheless,  a large  number  of  per- 
sonages belonging  to  the  Court  and  a part  of 
the  diplomatic  corps  were  still  there.  The 
journey  to  Moscow,  at  this  epochj-wds-qtrite  an 
affair.  It  necessitated  the  moving,  not  only  of 
people,  but  of  furniture  as  well.  The  departure 
of  the  sovereign  displaced  a hundred  thousand 
people,  and  emptied  an  entire  quarter  of  the  town. 
The  French  and  Prussian  Ambassadors  had  no  in- 
tention of  letting  any  one  whatever  be  beforehand 
with  them  in  regard  to  the  two  princesses.  La 
Chetardie,  in  his  despatches  to  Amelot,  boasted 
that  he  knew  both  mother  and  daughter  intimately. 
He  had  recently  met  with  them  at  Hamburg,  on 
his  return  to  Russia.  Both  exerted  themselves  to 
the  utmost.  The  Princess  of  Zerbst  found  her- 
self in  an  atmosphere  of  homage,  of  assiduity,  of 
forced  flattery,  in  which  already  intrigues  and 
rivalries  began  to  show  themselves.  She  was  in 
her  element,  and  she  flung  herself  into  it  with 
delight,  holding  receptions,  giving  audiences,  from 
morning  to  night,  surrounding  herself  with  pro- 
minent personages,  essaying  the  most  complicated 
moves  of  the  game  of  politics.  At  the  end  of  a 
week  she  was  out  of  breath.  Her  daughter  held 
out  better.  ‘ Figchen  southenirt  die  Fatige  besser 
als  ich,’  wrote  the  princess  to  her  husband.  Afid 
she  noted  this  trait,  which  seems  already  to 
indicate  the  future  Semiramis:  Tt  is  the  grandeur 


28 


CAl'MERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


of  her  surroundings  that  sustains  the  courage  of 
Figchen.’ 

The  grandeur ! that,  indeed,  is  what  seemed 
most  to  impress  the  mind  of  this  girl  of  fifteen, 
initiating  her  into  the  mysteries  of  her  future 
destiny.  At  the  same  time  she  learnt  of  what 
this  grandeur  was  made,  and  how  it  was  attained. 
She  was  shown  the  barracks  from  which,  so  short 
a time  before,  Elizabeth  had  set  out  to  conquer 
a throne.  She  saw  the  wild  grenadiers  of  the 
Preobrajenski  regiment,  who  accompanied  the 
Czarina  on  the  night  of  the  5th  December  1741. 
And  the  one  true  lesson,  the  living  lesson '~bf 
things,  spoke  to  her  awakening  mind. 

In  the  mind  of  her  mother  certain  anxieties 
intrude  themselves  into  the  intoxication  of  the 
present  hour.  Across  the  crowd  of  compliments 
there  pierce  certain  dim  warnings,  certain  veiled 
threats.  The  all-powerful  Bestoujef  remains 
always  hostile  to  the  projected  alliance,  and  he 
has  not  thrown  up  the  game.  He  counts  on 
the  Bishop  of  Novgorod,  Ambrose  J ouchkievitch, 
disapproving  of  the  too  close  relationship  between 
the  Grand  Duke  and  the  Princess  Sophia,  or 
won  over,  as  people  said,  by  the  Saxon  court 
with  a thousand  roubles.  The  influence  of  this 
prelate  is  considerable.  But  Jeanne-Elizabeth 
has  no  lack  of  courage.  She  has,  too,  for  her 
further  confidence  in  her  own  success,  two  reasons 
worth  all  the  arguments  of  her  adversaries  : — 
first,  her  extraordinary  levity  of  temperament, 
which  made  her  give  herself  the  name  of  Will-o’- 
the-Wisp  ; and  secondly,  her  own  opinion  of  her- 
self, of  her  resources  for  intrigue,  of  her  aptitude 
in  surmounting  the  gravest  difficulties.  What, 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  29 

after  all,  has  to  be  done  ? Merely  to  overcome 
the  opposition  of  a minister  who  is  unfavourable 
to  her.  For  that  there  is  a remedy,  which  has 
already  been  discussed  by  her  and  Frederick  on 
her  passage  through  Berlin : it  consists  in  sup- 
pressing the  opposition  by  suppressing  the 
minister.  Frederick  has  had  it  in  mind  for  some 
time.  Well,  she  will  overthrow  Bestoujef  as  soon 
as  she  has  reached  Moscow.  Briimmer  and 
Lestocq  will  aid  her. 

It  is  with  this  fine  project  in  her  mind  that  she 
once  more  starts  on  her  way. 

Ill 

The  journey,  this  time,  is  very  different  from 
that  between  Berlin  and  Riga.  The  posting- 
houses  on  the  way  ar-e- almost  palaces.  The 
sledges  skim  over  the  firm  ice.  They  push 
forward  night  and  day,  in  order  that  they  may 
reach  Moscow  by  the  9th  of  February,  the  Grand 
Duke’s  birthday.  For  the  last  relay,  at  seventy 
versts  from  Moscow,  sixteen  horses  are  harnessed 
to  the  famous  sledge  constructed  by  Peter  the 
Great,  and  the  distance — some  fifty  miles — 
is  covered  without  a stoppage  in  three  hours. 
This  headlong  course  is  all  but  interrupted  by 
a fatal  accident.  In  passing  through  a village, 
the  lumbersome  vehicle,  which  once  again  carries 
the  fortunes  of  Russia,  grazes  the  corner  of  a 
cottage.  The  blow  detaches  from  the  roof  of 
the  sledge  two  great  bars  of  iron,  which  come 
near  crushing  the  two  sleeping  princesses.  One, 
indeed,  strikes  Jeanne- Elizabeth  on  the  neck,  but 
the  pelisse  in  which  she  is  enveloped  softens  the 


30  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

blow : her  daughter  is  not  even  awakened.  Two 
grenadiers  of  the  Pr^obrajenski  regiment,  sitting 
on  the  front  part  of  the  sledge,  are  dashed  to  the 
ground,  bleeding  and  dislocated.  Leaving  it  to 
the  villagers  to  pick  them  up,  the  horses  are 
whipped  up,  and  at  eight  o’clock  in  the  even- 
ing they  halt  at  Moscow,  before  the  wooden 
palace,  the  Golovinski  Dvarets,  inhabited  by  the 
Czarina. 

Elizabeth,  all  impatience,  is  v/aiting  for  the  new- 
comers behind  a double  row  of  courtiers.  Her 
nephew,  more  impatient  still,  disregarding  eti- 
quette, and  not  giving  the  travellers  time  to  take 
off  their  furs,  dashes  into  their  room  and  gives 
them  the  warmest  greeting.  Soon  after,  they  are 
conducted  to  the  presence  of  the  Czarina.  The 
interview  is  all  that  could  be  wished  ; nor  does  it 
pass  without  a touch  of  feeling,  which  seems  of 
good  augury.  After  having  gazed  attentively  at 
the  mother  of  the  future  Grand  Duchess,  the 
Empress  turns  aside  and  goes  quickly  out  of  the 
room.  It  is  to  hide  her  tears,  for  she  has  seen 
certain  traits  in  the  face  of  the  princess  which 
remind  her  of  her  unforgotten  sorrow.  The 
princess,  instructed  by  Brummer,  has  not  for- 
gotten to  kiss  the  imperial  hand,  and  Elizabeth 
is  gratified  by  these  testimonies  of  excessive 
respect. 

Next  day,  Figchen  and  her  mother  are  simul- 
taneously raised  to  the  ra  k of  Dames  of  the 
Order  of  Catherine,  at  tf  desire  of  the  Grand 
Duke,  as  Elizabeth  asr  res  them.  ‘ We  are 
living  like  queens,  my  uaughter  and  I,’  writes 
the  Princess  of  Zerbst  to  her  husband.  As  for 
the  all-powerful  Bestoujef,  there  is  no  need  for 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE 

the  Princess  to  organise  a cabal  against  him. 
There  is  one  already  formed  by  the  French  and 
the  Prussian  parties,  supported  by  the  Hol- 
steiners  who  have  been  attracted  to  Russia  by 
the  fortune  of  Peter- Ulric.  Lestocq  directs,  or 
seems  to  direct,  the  affair;  putting  forward,  in 
opposition  to  Bestoujef,  Count  Michael  Voront- 
sof,  who  has  taken  part  in  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth.  We  need  not  here  paint  the  portrait 
of  the  minister  whom  Jeanne-Elizabeth  would 
thus  put  in  check,  one  of  the  most  astonishing 
diplomatic  free-lances  of  the  age,  for  he  has 
served  many  before  finally  offering  his  services  to 
Russia.  Does  Figchen’s  mother  really  represent 
to  herself  the  gravity  of  the  struggle  into  which 
she  is  entering,  and  the  power  of  the  adversary 
whom  she  has  against  her  ? 1 1 is  not  probable. 

But  she  remembers  that  Frederick  has  promised 
her  the  Abbey  of  Quedlinbourg  for  her  younger 
sister,  if  she  succeeds  in  her  enterprise,  and  she 
means  to  have  her  abbey.  In  Frederick’s  mind 
the  fall  of  Bestoujef  serves  as  the  signal  of  a 
great  political  upheaval,  which  may  lead  to  the 
closer  union  of  Russia,  Prussia,  and  Sweden. 
How  glorious  for  the  Princess  of  Zerbst,  to  link 
her  name  with  the  accomplishment  of  such  a 
task ! She  feels  within  herself  the  power  to 
achieve  it.  She  is  a woman,  and  she  comes 
from  Zerbst : let  that  be  her  excuse.  She 
imagines  herself  still  in  the  midst  of  the  little 
intrigues,  the  frail  plots,  that  she  has  known 
before ; and  it  is  this  ^hat  constitutes  her  great 
mistake,  till  one  day  her  eyes  open  to  the  reality 
of  things,  and  she  sees  the  immensity  of  the  abyss 
ear  which  she  has  unknowingly  ventured.  As 


32 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


for  the  marriage  of  her  daughter,  she  w^ll  have 
no  more  to  do  with  it.  ‘ It  is  a settled  thing,’ 
she  writes  to  her  husband.  Figchen  has  won  the 
suffrage  of  all ; ‘ cherished  by  the  sovereign, 

loved  by  the  heir  apparent.’  And  what  has  the 
heart  of  the  future  wife  to  say  to  all  this  ? Has 
the  recollection  of  that  first  meeting  at  Eutin  with 
the  sickly  ‘ child  of  Kiel  ’ given  place  to  more 
favourable  impressions  ? That  is  not  a point 
that  enters  into  the  calculations  of  her  mother. 

Peter  is  Grand Duke ; one  day  he  , will  be 

Emperor.  TTie  heart  of  her  daughter  would  be 
made  of  different  stuff  from  the  hearts  of  all 
German  Princesses,  past  and  present,  if  she  were 
not  satisfied  with  her  chances  of  happiness  under 
such  conditions.  Let  us  see  nevertheless  what 
has  happened  to  the  sickly  child  since  the  un- 
expected change  in  his  fate. 


IV 

Peter  was  born  at  Kiel,  February  21,  1728. 
The  minister  at  Holstein,  Bassewitz,  wrote  to  St. 
Petersburg  that  the  Czarevna  Anna  Petrovna 
had  given  birth  to  ‘ a robust  and  healthy  boy.’ 
It  was  a phrase  of  court  flattery.  The  child  was 
not  robust,  and  never  could  be.  His  mother 
died  three  months  later  ; of  consumption,  said  the 
doctors.  The  feeble  health  of  the  future  Emperor 
caused  his  education  to  be  neglected.  Up  to  the 
age  of  seven  he  is  in  the  hands  of  governesses, 
French  governesses,  at  Kiel  as  at  Stettin.  He 
has  also  a French  master.  Millet.  At  this  point 
he  is  suddenly  put  under  the  discipline  of  the 
officers  of  the  Holstein  Guard.  He  becomes  a 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  33 

soldier  before  he  is  a man,  a soldier  of  the 
bmrack^  of  the  mess,  of  the  guard-room,  of 
the  field-parade.  So  he  acquires  a taste  for 
the  low  side  of  soldiering,  its  vulgarities,  its 
hardships,  its  minutiae.  He  goes  through  his 
drill,  he  mounts  guard.  In  1737,  at  the  age  of 
nine,  he  is  sergeant,  and  he  stands,  musket  in 
hand,  at  the  door  of  a room  in  which  his  father  is 
giving  a sumptuous  dinner  to  the  officers.  Tears 
run  down  the  child’s  cheeks  as  he  sees  the  suc- 
culent dishes  file  past  under  his  eyes.  At  the 
second  course  his  father  has  him  relieved,  ap- 
points him  lieutenant,  and  allows  him  to  sit  down 
to  the  table.  After  he  had  come  to  the  throne, 
Peter  was  wont  to  refer  to  this  incident  as  the 
happiest  recollection  of  his  life. 

In  1739.  on  the  death  of  his  father,  there  is  a 
complete  change  of  regulation.  He  has  a head 
tutor,  under  whom  are  several  others.  This  head 
tutor  is  the  Holsteiner  Brummer,  whom  we  know 
already.  Rulhiere  has  eulogised  this  man  ‘ of 
rare  merit,’  whose  sole  error,  according  to  him, 
was  that  of  ‘ bringing  up  the  young  Prince  after 
the  greatest  models,  considering  rather  his  station 
than  his  abilities.’  'Other  testimonies  that  have 
come  to  us  in  regard  to  this  personage  are  much 
less  favourable.  The  Frenchman  Millet  said  of 
him  that  ‘he  was  good  for  training  horses,  and 
not.,.:princes.’  He  treated  his*  pupil,  it  seems, 
bml^ly-  inflicting  on  him  preposterous  punish- 
ment^ utterly  unsuited  to  the  delicacy  of  his 
healt^,  such  as  depriving  him  of  food,  or  inflict- 
ing (Ml  him  the  torture  of  kneeling  for  a long 
space  of  time  on  dried  peas  spread  on  the  ground. 
At  the  same  time,  as  the  little  Ptince,  ‘le  dia- 


34 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


biotin,’  who  persisted  in  living  despite  the  objec- 
tion  of  the  Empress  Anne — was  at  once  heir  to 
the  throne  of  Russia  and  to  that  of  Sweden,  he 
was  taught  alternately  Russian  and  Swedish, 
according  to  the  chances  of  the  moment.  The 
result  was  that  he  knew  neither  language.  When 
he  came  to  St.  Petersburg  in  1742,  Elizabeth 
was  astonished  to  find  him  so  backward.  She 
handed  him  over  to  Stahlin,  a Saxon,  who  had 
come  to  Russia  in  1735,  and  who  was  Professor 
of  Eloquence,  of  Poetry,  and  of  the  Philosophy  of 
Gottschedt,  of  the  Logic  of  Wolff,  and  of  many 
other  things  besides.  To  his  functions  as  pro- 
fessor he  joined  the  exercise  of  a great  number  of 
talents.  He  wrote  offi^yal  verse  for  the  Court 
fHes,  translated  Italian  operas  for  her  Majesty’s 
theatre,  designed  medals  destined  to  record  some 
victory  over  the  Tartars,  directed  the  choir  of 
the  imperial  chapel,  and  composed  mottoes  for 
the  court  fireworks. 

What  became  of  Peter’s  education  in  the  midst 
of  all  this  may  be  easily  imagined.  Briimmer 
still  remained  with  the  child  in  his  position 
of  master  of  the  household — grosser  and  more 
brutal  than  ever,  according  to  Stahlin’s  report. 
One  day  the  latter  was  obliged  to  interfere  in 
order  to  hinder  actual  violence ; the  Holsteiner 
was  making  for  the  young  Prince  with  raised 
fists,  while  Peter,  half-dead  with  fright,  shouted 
to  the  guard  to  come  to  his  aid, 

U nder  such  training  the  character  of  Catherine’s 
future  husband  contracted  vicious  habits  and  in- 
eradicable defects ; he  was  at  once  violent  and 
cunning,  cowardly  and  braggart.  He  already 
astonished  the  candid  Figchen  by  his  lies,  as 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  35 

Aie  was  afterwards  to  astonish  the  world  by  his 
cowardice.  One  day,  as  he  amused  himself  by 
thrilling  her  with  records  of  his  prowess  against 
the  Danes,  she  inquired  naively  at  what  time  these 
exploits  had  happened.  ‘ Three  or  four  years 
before  my  father’s  death.’  ‘ But  you  would  only 
be  seven!’  He  reddened  with  anger.  Weakly 
withal,  uncomely  in  body  as  in  mind,  he  was  a 
crooked  soul  in  an  impoverished  and  prematurely 
ravaged  body.  Figchen  would  certainly  do  ill 
to  count  on  his  affection,  sincere  as  it  appeared 
in  the  eyes  of  Jeanne-Elizabeth,  to  assure  her 
establishment  in  Russia.  Was  he  even  capable 
of  love,  this  young  man  who  cut  so  sorry  a 
figure  ? 

Happily  for  her,  Catherine  was  well  able  to 
depend  on  her  own  re.sources.  The  account  she 
herself  gives  of  this  period  of  her  life  would  be 
scarcely  credible  if  we  had  not  wherewith  to 
verify  the  accuracy  of  her  story.  She  was  hardly 
fifteen,  and  already  we  find  in  her  that  just  and 
penetrating  perception,  that  soundness  of  judg- 
ment, that  marvellous  sense  of  the  situation,  and 
that  admirable  good  sense  which,  later  on,  formed 
so  large  a part  of  her  genius, — which  were,  per- 
haps, her  genius.  To  begin  with,  she  realises 
that  to  remain  in  Russia,  to  make  a figure,  to 
play  a ro/e,  it  is  needful  to  become  a Russian. 

^ Without  doubt  her  cousin  Peter  had  never 
thought  of  it.  But  she  sees  well  the  discomfort 
and  the  dislike  that  he  creates  about  him  with  his 
Holstein  jargon  and  his  German  manners.  She 
gets  up  in  the  night  to  repeat  the  lessons  that 
her  Russian  master,  Adadourof,  has  set  her.  As 
she  never  takes  the  precaution  of  dressing,  and 


36 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


walks  barefoot  in  the  room  to  keep  herself  awake, 
she  takes  a chill.  Soon  her  life  is  in  danger. 

‘ The  young  Princess  of  Zerbst,’  writes  La 
Chetardie  (March  26,  1744),  ‘is  ill  with  peri- 
pneumohia.’  The  Saxon  party  takes  courage — 
uselessly,  if  we  may  believe  the  French  diplo- 
matist, for  Elizabeth  is  resolved,  whatever 
happens,  that  they  shall  never  profit  from  the 
event.  ‘ “ They  shall  gain  nothing,”  she  said  the 
day  before  yesterday  to  MM.  de  Briimmer  and 
Lestocq  ; “ for  if  I have  the  misfortune  to  lose  this 
dear  child,  may  the  devil  take  me  if  ever  I have 
a Saxon  princess.”  ’ Brummer  also  confided  to 
La  Chetardie  that,  ‘ in  the  distressing  extremity 
that  must  be  faced  and  considered,  he  had  laid 
his  plans,  and  that  a Princess  of  Armstadt  \sic], 
a charming  person,  who  had  been  thought  of  by 
the  King  of  Prussia  in  case  the  Princess  of  Zerbst 
were  to  fail,  would  have  the  preference  over  every 
other.’  The  prospect  of  this  substitution,  reassur- 
ing as  it  is,  is  far  from  delighting  La  Chetardie. 
‘We  shall  lose  much,’  he  declares,  ‘seeing  how 
I am  looked  upon  by  the  Princesses  of  Zerbst, 
mother  and  daughter,  and  their  persuasion  that 
I have  contributed  to  the  future  prepared  for 
them.’ 

While  rival  ambitions  thus  fight  over  her,  the 
Princess  Sophia  struggles  with  death.  The 
doctors  prescribe  blood-letting.  Her  mother 
opposes  it.  It  is  referred  to  the  Empress;  but 
the  Empress  is  at  the  convent  of  La  Troitza, 
absorbed  in  the  devotions  to  which  she  abandons 
herself  in  her  passionate,  though  intermittent 
way,  putting  a certain  passion  into  all  that  she 
does.  Five  days  pass;  the  patient  waits.  At 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA—MARRIAGE  37 

last  Elizabeth  arrives  with  Lestocq,  and  orders 
the  blood-letting.  The  poor  Figchen  loses  con- 
sciousness. When  she  returns  to  herself,  she 
finds  herself  in  the  arms  of  the  Empress,  who, 
to  console  her  for  the  prick  of  the  lancet,  makes 
her  a present  of  a diamond  necklace  and  a pair 
of  earrings  worth  20,000  roubles.  It  is  the 
Princess  Jeanne-Elizabeth  who  notes  the  price. 
Peter  himself  becomes  generous,  and  gallantlj’ 
offers  a watch  covered  with  diamonds  and  rubies. 
But  diamonds  and  rubies  have  no  power  over  the 
fever.  In  twenty-seven  days  she  is  bled  sixteen 
times,  sometimes  four  times  in  twenty-four  hours. 
At  length  the  youth  and  robust  constitution  of 
Figchen  get  the  better  alike  of  the  disease  and 
the  treatment.  It  appears,  even,  that  this  long 
and  severe  crisis  has  had  a decisive  and  singularly 
happy  influence  over  her  destiny.  While  her 
mother  has  succeeded  in  rendering  herself  insup- 
portable to  everybody,  always  in  opposition  to 
the  doctors,  in  dispute  with  the  attendants,  scold- 
ing and  tormenting  her  own  daughter,  she,  on 
the  other  hand,  has  known  how  to  win  all  hearts, 
and,  despite  her  condition,  to  render  herself 
liked  and  loved  by  all.  There  is  a story  of 
a certain  piece  of  stuff — the  famous  blue  stuff 
embroidered  with  silver,  the  present  of  her  uncle 
Louis — that  Jeanne-Elizabeth  took  it  into  her 
head,  one  knows  not  why,  to  try  to  take  away 
from  the  poor  Figchen.  It  is  easy  to  imagine 
the  excitement  caused  in  the  sick-chamber  by 
this  pitiful  incident ; a concert  of  reprobation 
against  the  unnatural  mother,  a concert  of  sym- 
pathy in  favour  of  the  daughter,  victim  of  such 
unfeeling  treatment.  Figchen  gave  up  the  piece 


38  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

of  Stuff,  and  lost  nothing  by  it.  And  she  had 
other  triumphs.  Her  very  illness  endeared  her 
to  the  Russian  heart,  for  it  was  known  how  she 
had  come  it.  The  image  of  the  young  girl, 
barefooted,  heedless  of  the  winter  weather,  con- 
ning over  by  night  the  unfamiliar  sounds  of  the 
-Sclavonic  tongue,  already  haunted  the  imagina- 
tion, was  already  a legend.  And  it  was  said 
that,  at  the  most  dangerous  point  of  the  crisis, 
her  mother  had  wished  to  summon  a Protestant 
pastor  to  her  bedside.  ‘No,’  was  her  reply; 
‘what  for.^  ’ Send  for  Simon  Todorski.’  Simon 
Todorski  was  the  orthodox  priest  who  had  had 
charge  of  the  religious  education  of  the  Grand 
Duke,  and  who  was  now  to  undertake  that  also 
of  the  Grand  Duchess. 

What  were  the  sentiments,  at  this  time,  of 
the  Princess  Sophia  on  this  delicate  subject } 
It  is  difficult  to  be  sure.  Certain  indications 
favour  the  supposition  that  the  treatise  of  Heinec- 
cius  and  the  objurgations  of  the  Pro  Memoria 
of  Christian-August  had  produced  on  her  a some- 
what profound  impression.  ‘ I pray  God,’  she 
wrote  to  her  father,  still  at  Konigsberg,  ‘ to 
strengthen  my  soul  with  all  the  force  it  will 
need  in  order  to  resist  the  temptations  to  which 
I prepare  to  see  myself  exposed.  He  will  accord 
this  grace  to  the  prayer  of  your  Highness  and  of 
dear  mamma.’  Mardefeldt,  for  his  part,  showed 
some  anxiety.  ‘There  is  one  point,’  he  writes, 

‘ that  causes  me  infinite  embarrassment : it  is 
that  the  mother  believes,  or  pretends  to  believe, 
that  this  young  beauty  could  never  embrace  the 
Greek  religion.’  He  tells  how  he  had  one  day 
to  have  recourse  to  the  pastor,  in  order  to  calm 


V 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  39 

the  mind  of  the  Princess,  frightened  by  the 
lessons  of  the  Pope.  Here,  nevertheless,  is  what 
Catherine  thought  later,  no  doubt  looking  back 
on  her  own  experience,  of  the  difficulties  that 
line  the  way  to  the  bosom  of  the  orthodox 
church  on  the  part  of  a German  Princess  brought 
up  in  the  Lutheran  religion,  of  the  time  required 
for  surmounting  them,  and  of  the  course  and 
progress  of  the  moral  problem.  Writing  to 
Grimm  on  August  18,  1776,  in  reference  to  the 
Princess  of  Wurtemberg,  whom  she  destines  for 
her  son  Paul,  she  expresses  herself  in  these  terms  : 
‘As  soon  as  we  have  her,  we  will  set  about  her 
conversion.  We  shall  need  quite  fifteen  days. 

. . . To  hasten  it  all  on,  Pastoukhof  has  gone  to 
Memel  to  teach  her  the  ABC  and  the  Confession 
in  Russian  : conviction  will  come  after.' 

However  it  may  have  been,  the  refusal  to 
see  the  evangelical  minister — a repudiation  of 
the  faith  of  her  childhood — coming  from  the 
dying  lips  of  the  future  Grand  Duchess,  and  the 
appeal  for  the  aid  of  Todorski — an  anticipatory 
confession  of  the  orthodox  faith  — received  a 
ready  belief.  From  that  time  the  position  of 
Figchen  in  Russia  was  assured.  Whatever  might 
come  about,  she  was  sure  for  the  future  to  find 
it  in  the  hearts  of  this  naif  and  profoundly  re- 
ligious people,  whose  beliefs  she  had  espoused, 
and  who  testified  its  gratitude  by  immediately 
espousing  her  interests.  The  link  that  was  to 
unite  this  little  German  Princess  to  the  great 
Sclavonic  nation,  whose  language  she  was  but 
beginning  to  stammer ; the  compact  that  for  near 
a half-century  was  to  associate  their  destinies 
in  a single  glorious  fortune,  to  be  broken  only 


40 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSL 


by  death  ; this  link,  this  compact,  were  from  this 
moment  found  and  formed. 

On  April  20,  i74^_-tlie  Princess  Sophia 
appears  for  the  first"  time  in  public  after  her 
illness.  She  is  still  so  pale  that  the  Empress 
sends  her  a pot  of  rouge.  But,  notwithstanding, 
she  attracts  all  eyes,  and  she  feels  that  all  eyes 
look  on  her  kindly.  Already  she  pleases  and 
attracts.  She  brightens  and  warms  about  her 
the  glacial  atmosphere  of  a court  which  she  is 
one  day  to  render  so  brilliant.  Peter  himself 
shows  himself  more  attentive  and  more  con- 
fiding. Alas ! his  gallantry  and  his  confidence 
are  of  but  one  kind.  He  tells  his  future  wife 
the  story  of  his  intrigue  with  one  of  the  maids 
of  honour  of  the  Empress,  the  Princess  Lapou- 
khine,  whose  mother  has  recently  been  exiled 
to  Siberia.  The  freiline  has  to  quit  the  court 
at  the  same  time.  Peter  would  like  to  have 
married  her,  but  resigned  himself  to  the  will 
of  the  Empress.  Figchen  blushes,  and  thanks 
the  Grand  Duke  for  the  honour  he  has  done 
her  in  making  her  the  third  party  to  his 
secrets.  Already  it  is  evident  what  sort  of 
\ future  lay  before  these  two  creatures  so  little 
made  for  one  another. 


During  this  time  the  Princess  Jeanne-Eliza- 
beth  is  quite  given  over  to  her  enterprises  in 
the  higher  diplomacy.  She  makes  friends  with 
the  Troubetzkoi  family,  and  with  the  bastard  j 
Betzky  himself,  whose  bustling  personality  I 
begins  to  make  itself  felt.  She  has  a salon,  j 


41 


JN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE 

which  is  the  meeting-place  of  all  the  adversaries 
of  the  actual  political  system,  all  the  enemies 
of  Bestoujef : Lestocq,  La  Chetardie,  Mardefeldt, 
Brumnier.  She  forms  cabals,  she  plots,  she 
intrigues.  She  goes  forward  with  all  the  ardour 
of  an  hysterical  woman,  and  all  the  heedlessness 
of  an  airy  brain.  She  thinks  she  has  secured 
her  success,  and  also  her  Abbey  of  Quedlin- 
bourg.  She  already  sees  herself  complimented 
by  Frederick,  and  assuming,  in  short,  the  role 
of  his  ambassador  at  the  court  of  the  North, 
his  best,  his  most  precious  ally.  She  sees 
nothing  of  the  abyss  at  her  feet. 

On  the  1st  of  June  1744  Elizabeth  has 
betaken  herself  once  more  to  the  convent  of 
La  Troitza,  this  time  with  full  ceremony  and 
the  pomp  of  a solemn  pilgrimage,  taking  half 
her  court  with  her,  and  journeying  on  foot. 
She  has  formed  the  vow,  on  coming  to  i:ie 
throne,  that  she  will  repeat  this  ceremony 
every  time  that  she  visits  Moscow,  in  memory 
of  the  refuge  that  Peter  1.  had  found  in  the 
ancient  monastery,  at  a time  when  his  life  was 
in  danger  through  the  revolt  of  the  Strelitz. 
The  Princess  Sophia,  still  too  weak,  is  not  able 
to  accompany  the  Empress,  and  her  mother 
remains  with  her.  But  after  three  days  a 
courier  arrives,  bearing  a letter  from  Elizabeth: 
the  two  Princesses  are  to  rejoin  the  Imperial 
cortege,  and  assist  at  its  solemn  entrance  within 
the  walls  of  La  Troitza.  Scarcely  are  they 
installed  in  a cell,  where  the  Grand  Duke 
comes  to  pay  them  a visit,  when  the  Empress 
herself  enters,  followed  by  Lestocq.  She  seems 
greatly  agitated.  She  orders  the  Princess 


42  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Jeanne-Elizabeth  to  follow  her  into  a neigh- 
bouring room.  Lestocq  accompanies  them. 
The  interview  is  long.  Figchen  pays  no  heed 
to  it,  occupied  in  listening  to  her  cousin’s  usual 
extravagant  chatter.  Little  by  little  her  youth 
and  vivacity  get  the  better  of  the  constraint 
which  the  Grand  Duke’s  presence  generally  in- 
spires, she  enters  into  his  childish  mood,  and  both 
fall  to  laughing  and  playing  with  great  gaiety. 
Suddenly  Lestocq  returns : ‘ This  is  soon  to 
be  put  a stop  to,’  says  he  brusquely ; then, 
addressing  the  Princess  Sophia:  ‘You  had 
better  see  about  packing  up.’  Figchen  remains 
dumfounded,  and,  as  the  Grand  Duke  demands 
what  it  all  means,  Lestocq  contents  himself  with 
adding:  ‘ You  will  soon  see.’ 

‘ I saw  clearly,’  writes  Catherine  in  her 
memoirs,  ‘ that  he  (the  Grand  Duke)  would 
have  abandoned  me  without  regret.  For  my 
part,  his  disposition  being  what  it  was,  I should 
have  viewed  his  loss  with  indifference,  but  not 
that  of  the  crown  of  Russia.’  Was  it  possible 
that  this  girl  of  fifteen  was  already  thinking 
about  the  crown?  Why  not?  Writing  her 
memoirs  forty  years  afterwards,  supposing  that 
she  really  wrote  them  as  they  have  come  to 
us,  Catherine  may,  and  indeed  must,  have 
forced  the  note  of  her  childish  impressions. 
‘ My  heart,’  she  tells  us,  referring  to  this  period, 
‘ foresaw  nothing  good  in  the  future  ; ambition 
alone  sustained  me.  I had,  deep  down  in  my 
heart,  an  indefinable  something  which  never 
let  me  doubt  for  an  instant  that  I should 
become  the  Empress  of  Russia.’  Here  the 
exaggeration  is  evident,  and  the  a posteriori 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE 


43 


attitude  stares  one  in  the  face.  But  the  throne 
in  company  with  Peter  might  well  allure  the 
imagination  of  the  precocious  child  ; ‘ expecta- 

tions ’ far  more  distant  have  at  all  times  figured 
in  the  matrimonial  bill,  and  fiancees  of  fifteen, 
naw  as  ever,  know  very  well  how  to  cash  them. 
'^After  Lestocq  comes  the  Empress,  very  red, 
and  the  Princess  Jeanne-Elizabeth,  very  agitated, 
her  eyes  full  of  tears.  At  the  sight  of  the 
sovereign  the  two  youngsters,  who  had  been 
sitting  on  the  ledge  of  the  window,  their  legs 
dangling,  and,  taken  aback  by  what  Lestocq 
had  just  said,  had  not  moved  from  their  place, 
jump  down  precipitately.  One  sees  the  picture. 
It  seems  to  disarrn  the  Empress’s  wrath.  She 
smiles,  goes  up  to  them,  embraces  them,  and 
goes  out  without  a word.  Then  the  mystery 
begins  to  clear  up.  Eor  more  than  a month 
the  Princess  ofsZerbst  had  been  unconsciously 
walking  over  a -'mine  that  had  been  dug  for  her 
by  the  enerhfes  whom  she  fancied  it  so  easy  to 
dispose  of.  j And  the  mine  had  just  exploded. 

The  Marquis  La  Chetardie  had  returned  to 
Russia  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  with  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  the  most  brilliant  diplomatist  of  the 
day.  Tall,  well  made,  an  imposing  and  accom- 
plished cavalier,  he  seemed  destined  to  take  a 
great  place  at  a court  where  everything  was 
decided  by  favour,  where  success  depended  on 
the  power  of  pleasing,  and  where  he,  it  was  said, 
had  already  had  the  good  fortune  to  please.  He 
had  his  plan,  a very  ingenious,  perhaps  a too 
ingenious,  plan,  whose  adoption  he  had  already 
secured,  not  without  difficulty,  at  the  court  of 
Versailles.  It  placed  the  fall  of  Bestoujef,  that 


44 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


is  to  say  the  abandonment  of  the  Austrian  policy 
defended  by  this  minister,  as  the  price  of  an  ar- 
rangement long  debated  between  the  two  courts, 
eagerly  desired  by  Elizabeth,  obstinately  refused 
by  France.  It  related  to  the  title  of  Imperial 
Majesty,  tacitly  allowed  to  the  Czars  of  Russia 
since  Peter  the  Great,  but  not  yet  inscribed  on 
the  protocol,  and  consequently  absent  from  the 
official  documents  emanating  from  the  chancellor 
of  the  Most  Christian  King.  La  Chetardie  had 
obtained  credentials  containing  the  longed-for 
title.  He  kept  them  by  him,  to  give  to  the 
successor  of  Bestoujef,  after  his  dismissal.  Eliza- 
beth was  well  aware  of  it,  and  soon  it  was  known 
to  every  qne  at  the  court.  Until  matters  were 
arranged,  the  French  diplomatist,  relying  on  his 
personal  ascendency,  affected  to  deal  directly 
with  the  Empress,  over  the  head  of  her  chancellor. 
This  was  relying  too  much  on  his  powers ; it 
showed,  too,  a singular  error  in  regard  to  the 
character  of  Elizabeth.  The  portrait  of  the 
daughter  of  Peter  I.  has  been  often  sketched,  and 
w^e  have  been  able  to  arrive  at  a probably  exact 
idea  of  this  singular  sovereign’s  ways  of  living  and 
ruling.  She  was  at  once  restless  and  indolent, 
avid  of  pleasure  and  nevertheless  fond  of  affairs, 
spending  hours  over  her  toilette,  keeping  a signa- 
ture or  an  order  waiting  for  weeks  or  months, 
and  yet  authoritative  withal ; voluptuous,  pious, 
incredulous,  and  superstitious ; passing,  from 
moment  to  moment,  from  excesses  which  ruined 
her  health  to  religious  exaltation  which  impaired 
her  intellect : une  ndvrosde,  as  we  should  say  to- 
day. The  Baron  de  Breteuil  relates,  in  one  of 
his  despatches,  that,  in  1 760,  she  was  in  the  act 


I 


) 

ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  45 

of  signing  the  renewal  of  the  treaty  concluded  in 
1 746  with  the  court  of  Vienna,  and  had  already 
written  ‘ Eli  . . . ’ when  a wasp  settled  on  the 
end  of  her  pen.  She  stopped,  and  it  was  six 
months  before  she  made  up  her  mind  to  finish  the 
signature.  Of  her  appearance,  the  Princess  of 
Zerbst  has  left  us  this  pleasant  sketch  : — 

‘ The  Empress  Elizabeth  is  very  tall ; she  had 
formerly  an  extremely  good  figure.  She  was 
getting  fat  when  I knew  her,  and  it  always 
seemed  to  me  that  what  Saint  Evremond  says  in 
his  portrait  of  the  famous  Duchess  de  Mazarin, 
Hortense  Mancini,  might  have  been  said  of  the 
Empress : “ De  ce  qu’elle  a la  taille  deliee  une 
autre  I’aurait  belle.”  It  was  then  true  to  the 
letter.  Never  was  a head  more  perfect;  it  is 
true  that  the  nose  is  less  so  than  the  other 
features,  but  it  is  well  enough  in  its  way.  The 
mouth  is  unique  : there  never  was  such  another  : 
it  is  all  graces,  and  smiles,  and  sweetness.  It 
could  never  look  sour,  could  never  take  any  but 
a gracious  shape ; reproaches  from  it  would  be 
adorable,  if  it  could  ever  proffer  reproaches. 
Two  rows  of  pearls  show  through  the  coral  of  two 
lips  that  must  be  seen  to  be  imagined.  The  eyes 
are  full  of  sensibility  ; yes,  that  is  the  effect  they 
make  upon  me.  One  might  take  them  for  black, 
but  they  are  really  blue.  They  inspire  all  the 
sweetness  with  which  they  are  animated.  . . . 
Never  was  a forehead  more  pleasing.  Her  hair 
grows  in  such  a manner  that  with  a touch  of  the 
comb  it  seems  to  have  been  cunningly  arranged. 
She  has  black  eyebrows,  and  hair  naturally 
cendr^iv  Her  whole  form  is  noble,  her  bearing 
fine,  her  presence  full  of  grace  ; she  speaks  well, 


46  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

with  an  agreeable  voice  ; her  gestures  are  correct. 

In  short  there  never  was  one  like  her.  Her 
complexion,  her  neck,  her  hands — never  were 
any  such  seen.  Believe  me,  I know  what  I am 
talking  about,  and  I am  speaking  without  pre- 
possession.’ 

As  for  her  mind,  the  pen  of  the  Chevalier 
d’Eon  opposes  to  this  gracious  ensemble  a terrible 
counterpart : — ^ 

‘Under  an  air  of  apparent  bonhomie,  .shy 
(Elizabeth)  has  a sharp  and  incisive  intelhg^ffe. 

If  one  is  not  buttoned  and  cuirassed  beforehand 
against  inspection,  her  eye  glides  under  your 
clothing,  lays  you  bare,  pierces  open  your  breast, 
and  when  you  discover  it,  it  is  too  late : you  are 
naked,  the  woman  has  read  you  to  the  root  of 
your  heart,  has  rummaged  your  very  soul.  . . . 
Her  frankness  and  good  nature  are  only  a mask. 

In  your  France,  for  example,  and  in  all  Europe, 
she  has  the  reputation  and  the  name  of  cldment. 
On  her  accession  to  the  throne,  indeed,  she  swore 
on  the  venerated  image  of  St.  Nicholas  that  no 
one  should  be  put  to  death  during  her  reign. 
She  has  kept  her  word  to  the  letter,  and  not  a 
head  has  as  yet  been  cut  off,  it  is  true ; but  two 
thousand  tongues,  two  thousand  pairs  of  ears  ; 
have  been.  ...  You  know,  no  doubt,  the  story  : 
of  that  poor,  interesting  Eudoxie  Lapoukhine  1 
She  did  some  wrong  perhaps  to  her  Majesty,  but 
the  gravest  wrong  ? sure,  was  to  have  been  her 
rival,  and  fairer  than  she.  Elizabeth  had  her 
tongue  pierced  with  a red-hot  iron  and  twenty  j 
strokes  of  the  knout  administered  by  the  hand  of 
the  hangman,  and  the  unhappy  creatcre  was 
pregnant,  and  near  the  birth.  ...  You  will  find  in 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  47 

her  private  life  the  same  contradictions.  Now 
impious,  now  fervent,  sceptical  to  the  point  of 
atheism,  bigoted  to  the  point  of  superstition,  she 
passes  whole  hours  on  her  knees  before  the 
image  of  the  Virgin,  talking  with  her,  interrogat- 
ing her  with  ardour,  and  demanding  of  her  in  what 
company  of  the  Guards  she  should  take  the  lover 
of  the  moment.  ...  I was  forgetting  one  thing. 
Her  Majesty  has  a pronounced  taste  for  strong 
liquor.  It  happens  to  her  sometimes  to  be  in- 
disposed to  the  extent  of  falling  in  a swoon.  . . . 
Then  her  dress  and  her  corsets  have  to  be  cut. 
She  beats  her  servants  and  her  women.’ 

It  is  easy  to  see  what  difficulties  must  have 
been  found  by  La  Chetardie  in  his  relations  with 
a princess  of  so  strange  a humour,  and  on  what 
slippery  ground  the  Princess  of  Zerbst  was  ven- 
turing in  his  company.  For  she  had  become  his 
associate,  and  had  ended  by  pinning  all  her  faith 
to  him.  Mardefeldt  was  quite  out  of  the  battle, 
Briimmer  had  little  by  little  drawn  away  from  the 
party,  and  Lestocq  tacked  about,  with  the  native 
suspiciousness  of  his  shrewd  instinct.  Despatches 
from  Versailles  exhorted  the  Marquis  to  pru- 
dence, ending  by  peremptorily  ordering  h-im  not 
to  make  too  uncertain  a bargain  on  the  strength 
of  the  expected  gratitude  for  the  Imperial  title. 
After  all,  the  matter  was  not  of  such  grave  im- 
portance, ‘the  King  is  Emperor  in  France.’  It 
was  much  better  to  pay  f ' , Czarina  ‘ a kind  of 
flattery,’ by  showing  her  uie  king’s  letter.  This 
would,  perhaps,  induce  her  to  force  the  minister’s 
hand  in  favour  of  the  conclusion  of  the  wished- 
for  alliance.  La  Chetardie  declared  himself 
ready  to  obey,  but  there  was  some  difficulty  in 


+8 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


doing  so  : it  was  needful  to  ‘ catch  and  keep  ’ the 
Czarina,  for  at  least  a quarter  of  an  hour,  and 
this  he  could  not  do. 

Meanwhile,  Bestoujef  put  himself  on  the  de- 
fensive. With  the  assistance  of  an  employ^  of 
the  chancellor’s,  Goldbach,  a German,  perhaps 
a Jew,  an  expert  in  the  art  of  deciphering,  so 
much  cultivated  at  that  period,  he  intercepted 
and  brought  to  light  all  the  correspondence  of 
the  French  ambassador,  which  he  suddenly 
planted  before  the  eyes  of  the  Empress,  bringing 
specially  to  her  notice  the  passages  which  per- 
sonally concerned  her,  the  passages  in  which  La 
Chetardie  deplored  the  idleness  and  frivolity  of 
the  sovereign,  her  unrestrained  love  of  pleasure, 
and  her  very  coquetry,  which  caused  her  to 
change  her  toilette  four  or  five  times  a day.  One 
can  imagine  Elizabeth’s  anger,  and  the  conse- 
quences. Having  deliberately  refrained  from 
making  use  of  his  credentials.  La  Chetardie  was 
without  official  standing.  A simple  note  from 
the  chancellor’s  office  gave  him  orders  to  quit' 
Moscow  and  Russia  within  twenty-four  hours. 
The  Empress  even  demanded  the  return  of  a 
portrait  that  she  had  given  him  on  the  cover  of 
a snuff-box  set  with  diamonds.  The  snuff-box 
he  could  keep. 

But  it  was  not  La  Chetardie  only  who  was 
compromised  His  despatches  had  revealed  to 
the  Empress  the  part  taken  by  the  Princess  of 
Zerbst  in  the  abortive  intrigue.  They  showed 
her  at  the  court  and  in  her  own  intimacy  play- 
ing the  part  of  spy  in  the  service  of  Prussia  and 
France,  giving  secret  information  to  La  Chetardie 
and  Mardefeldt,  corresponding  secretly  with 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  49 

Frederick.  That  is  what  was  meant  by  the  enig- 
matical scene  at  the  convent  of  La  T roitza. 

The  Princess  of  Zerbst  escaped  with  a good 
fright,  with  a taste  of  the  truth  that  she  had  to 
hear  from  the  lips  of  Elizabeth,  and  with  the  irre- 
vocable loss,  not  only  of  the  credit  she  had  fondly 
hoped  to  acquire  at  court,  whose  secret  springs 
she  only  now  began  to  realise,  but  also  of  that 
to  which  she  might  legitimately  have  laid  claim. 
‘The  name  of  the  Princess  of  Zerbst,’  wrote  La 
Chetardie’s  successor,  d’ Albion,  a year  after  these 
events,  ‘ was  frequently  met  with  in  the  inter- 
cepted letters  of  M.  de  La  Chetardie.  From  that 
time  the  Empress  took  a decided  dislike  to  her. 
. . . Her  best  course  would  be  to  return  to 
Germany.’  This,  indeed,  is  what  she  did,  but 
not  without  having  assisted  at  the  single  victory 
of  which  a chance  remained  to  her  under  a sky 
now  so  overcast, — the  single  one  of  which  she 
seemed  to  have  lost  sight,  almost  to  the  point 
of  letting  it  escape  her.  ^ 

VI ' 

The  person  of  Figchen  had  passed  through 
this  crisis  unhurt.  From  this  moment,  indeed, 
and  as  if  her  proved  innocence  had  pleaded  her 
cause  with  even  her  adversaries  and  the  enemies 
of  her  fortune,  her  triumph  became.^certain,  and 
her  marriage  with  the  Grand  jJuke  finally 
assured.  One  delicate  point  still  remained  to  be 
settled,  the  solemn  admission  of  the  Princess 
Sophia  into  the  Greek  Church.  The  Princess  of 
Zerbst  had  done  her  best  to  carry  out  the  injunc- 
tions of  her  husband.  She  had  tried  to  fortify 


50  CA  THERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 

her  own  faith  and  the  faith  of  her  daughter.  She 
had  also  made  inquiry  if  the  precedent  of  the 
wife  of  the  Czarevitch  Alexis,  who  had  retained 
her  position  in  the  Protestant  Church,  might  not 
be  utilised  for  the  benefit  of  Figchen.  On  this 
last  point  the  result  of  her  investigation  was 
unsatisfactory.  But  the  news  that  she  gave  of 
it  to  the  pious  and  scrupulous  Christian- August 
was  accompanied  by  reassuring  statements.  She 
had  gone  over  the  creed  of  the  Greek  Church 
with  Simon  Todorski,  she  had  compared  it  care- 
fully with  Luther’s  catechism,  and  she  had 
arrived  at  the  conviction  that  there  was  no  funda- 
mental difference  between  the  two  religions.  As 
for  Figchen,  she  had  not  taken  so  long  to  find 
out  that  she  could  save  her  soul  in  the  orthodox 
religion.  Heineccius  evidently  did  not  know 
what  he  was  talking  about,  and  Methodius  har- 
monised admirably  with  Luther.  The  arguments 
of  Simon  Todorski  on  this  subject  were  irresist- 
ible. He  was  a clever  man,  this  archimandrite. 
He  had  seen  the  world,  and  had  been  a student 
at  the  University  of  Halle.  Christian- August 
was  not  at  first  easy  to  move.  ‘ My  good  Prince 
of  Zerbst,’  wrote  Frederick,  later  on,  ‘was’most 
restive  on  this  point.  ...  He  replied  to  all  my 
arguments,  “My  daughter  shall  not  join  the 
Greek  Church.”  ’ Happily  there  was  another 
Simon  Todorski  at  Berlin.  ‘Some  priest,’  con- 
tinues Frederick,  ‘whom  I knew  how  to  win 
over  . . . was  complaisant  enough  to  persuade 
him  that  the  Greek  rites  were  similar  to  those  of 
the  Lutherans.  After  that  he  was  always  saying 
“ Lutheran-Greek,  Greek- Lutheran,  it  is  the  same 
thing.’”  In  the  course  of  June,  a courier,  sent 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  51 

by  Elizabeth,  returned  with  the  Prince’s  official 
authorisation  of  the  marriage  and  conversion 
of  the  Princess  Sophia.  The  good  Christian- 
August  declared  that  he  had  perceived  the  finger 
of  God  in  the  circumstances  which  had  led  to 
this  determination. 

June  28th  was  fixed  for  the  public  profession  of 
the  young  catechumen,  and  the  day  following,  the 
feast  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  for  the  betrothal. 
The  approach  of  this  ceremony . did  not  fail  to 
cause  some  emotion  to  Figchen.  The  letters 
that  she  received  in  great  numbers  from  her 
relations  in  Germany  were  not  all  of  a reassuring 
kind.  One  can  see  to  what  comment  of  all  kinds 
this  unexpected  destiny  of  the  little  princess 
would  give  rise  in  the  minds  of  those  among 
whom  she  had  lived  till  now.  The  tendency 
was  not  generally  too  favourable.  A little 
jealousy  mingled  perhaps  with  the  apprehensions 
that  seemed  inspired  only  by  a tender  solicitude. 
The  lamentable  history  was  recalled  of  that  un- 
happy Charlotte  of  Brunswick,  the  wife  of  Alexis, 
deserted  by  her  husband,  forgotten  by  the  Czar. 
And  had  not  the  far-off  Russia  been  fatal  to  all 
that  German  family,  which  had  thought  to  find 
there  a future  of  glory  and  greatness  } All  that 
came  to  the  future  Grand  Duchess  in  long  con- 
torted phrases  of  Teutonic  jargon,  stuffed  with 
French,  in  which  she  saw  more  of  envy  than 
of  true  consideration,  but  which  made  her  some- 
times tremble  as  she  gazed  anxiously  into  the 
future. 

No  one  certainly  would  have  thought  so  among 
the  crowd  of  courtiers  who,  at  ten  o’clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  28th  June  1744,  thronged  the 

Vi 


university  Of 


52 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


entrance  to  the  imperial  chapel  of  the  Golovinski 
Dvarets.  Dressed  in  an  ‘ Adrienne  ’ robe  of 
red  cloth  of  Tours  laced  with  silver,  a simple 
white  ribbon  about  her  unpowdered  hair,  Fig- 
chen  was  radiant  with  youth,  beauty,  and  modest 
assurance.  Her  voice  did  not  tremble,  her 
memory  did  not  hesitate  an  instant,  as  she 
pronounced  in  Russian  the  creed  of  her  new 
faith  before  the  moved  assembly.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Novgorod,  he  who  had  formerly 
declared  himself  against  the  marriage,  shed  pious 
tears  on  receiving  her  profession  of  faith,  and 
all  the  assistants  felt  bound  to  imitate  him. 
They  had  wept  the  same,  it  is  true,  at  the 
conversion  of  Peter- Ulric,  who  had  made 
grimaces  during  the  ceremony,  and  had  amused 
himself  at  the  expense  of  the  officiant.  This 
sensibility  was  a part  of  the  ceremony.  The 
sovereign  testified  her  contentment  by  present- 
ing the  catechumen  with  a clasp  and  collar  of 
diamonds,  which  the  expert  Jeanne- Elizabeth 
estimated  at  100,000  roubles. 


But  what  would  the  good  Christian-August 
have  said  if  he  had  heard  his  daughter  declare 
before  God  and  man  : ‘ I believe  and  I confess 
that  faith  alone  doth  not  suffice  for  my  justifica- 
/ tion?’  Did  not  Figchen  herself  need  some  effort 
to  pronounce  these  words,  which  separated  her 
finally  from  her  past  ? Those  who  would  find 
here  the  influence  of  the  Parisian  philosophers 
on  her  youthful  mind  have  somewhat  confused 
their  dates.  It  is  extremely  probable  that  at 
this  moment  the  future  friend  of  Voltaire  did 
not  know  of  that  writer’s  existence.  On  leaving 
the  chapel  she  found  herself  at  the  end  of  her 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  53 

Strength,  and  she  could  not  appear  at  dinner. 
But  it  was  no  more  either  Figchen  or  the  Princess 
Sophia-Frederika  who  had  crossed  with  unsteady 
feet  the  threshold  of  this  temple  of  golden  icones. 
That  day,  in  the  official  liturgy,  a prayer  was 
introduced  for  the  ‘ Orthodox  {Olagovierna) 
^Catherine  Aleksieievna.’  The  Princess  of  Zerbst 
explained  to  her  husband,  it  is  true,  that  Catherine 
had  simply  been  added  to  Sophia,  ‘ as  occurs  at 
confirmation.’  As  for  Aleksieievna,  that  sur- 
name, according  to  the  usage  of  the  country, 
stood  for  ‘daughter  of  Augustus,’  Augustus 
having  no  nearer  translation  in  Russian.  The 
good  Christian  asked  no  questions.  He  had  had 
for  some  time  to  lay  in  a provision  of  credulity, 
and  there  were  special  graces,  no  doubt,  for 
the  benefit  of  German  princes  with  marriageable 
daughters  abroad. 

The  betrothal  took  place  next  day  in  the  Ou- 
spienski  Sobor.  The  Princess  of  Zerbst  herself 
placed  the  rings  upon  the  fingers  of  Catherine 
Aleksieievna  and  her  future  husband — two  little 
marvels,  these  rings,  worth  quite  50,000  ecus, 
said  she.  Some  writers,  Rulhiere  among  others, 
affirm  that  Catherine  received  on  this  occasion  the 
title  of  heir  to  the  throne,  with  right  of  succession 
in  case  of  the  Grand  Duke’s  death.  The  fact  is 
contested  by  the  most  recent  Russian  authorities. 
It  would  have  required  an  official  manifesto,  and 
there  is  no  trace  of  this.  The  future  Grand 
Duchess  continued  to  win  all  hearts  by  the  per- 
fect grace  and  seemliness  of  her  attitude.  Her 
mother  herself  observed  with  satisfaction  that 
she  blushed  every  time  that  the  exigencies  of 
her  newly  acquired  rank  obliged  her  to  take  pre- 


54 


CA7HERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


cedence  over  her  who  had  given  her  birth.  ■ She 
had  soon  to  find  out  that  her  daughter,  notwith- 
standing, seized  the  opportunity  afforded  by  her 
new  position  to  escape  from  a tutelage  that  had 
long  weighed  upon  her.  Nor  was  she  alone  in 
finding  herself  now  out  of  place  and  unwelcome 
in  the  position  in  which  she  was  obliged  to  live, 
riie  Princess  of  Zerbst  was  treated  in  general 
as  a ‘stranger,’  and  she  aroused  no  sympathy. 
Catherine,  for  the  first  time  in  her  life,  had  now 
money  of  her  own — 30,000  roubles — which  had 
been  sent  to  her  by  Elizabeth,  '■pour  son  jeu^  as 
the  phrase  was  at  the  Court  of  Russia — an 
amount  which  seemed  to  her  an  inexhaustible 
treasure.  She  soon  drew  upon  it  largely,  and, 
at  first,  very  commendably.  Her  brother  had 
just  been  sent  to  Hamburg  to  finish  his  studies. 
She  declared  that  she  would  pay  the  cost  of  his 
maintenance.  She  had  her  own  court,  of  whom 
the  principal  functionaries,  chamberlains  and 
gentlemen  of  the  bedchamber,  were  carefully 
chosen  outside  of  the  coterie  that  the  Princess 
of  Zerbst  professed  to  keep  in  her  interests  and 
in  those  of  Fr  'derick.  The  son  of  the  chancellor 
himself,  Peter  Bestoujef,  was  one  of  the  number. 
This  was  one  disappointment  the  more  for  the 
Princess  of  Zerbst,  and  she  did  not  fail  to  give  one 
more  instance  of  her  want  of  tact  by  showing  it. 
Her  bad  temper,  bursting  forth  on  any  occasion 
and  at  the  expense  of  every  one,  put  the  finishing 
touch  to  her  unpopularity.  There  were  violent 
scenes  between  her  and  the  Grand  Duke,  which 
afforded  the  latter  an  opportunity  for  showing  off 
his  guard-room  manners  and  language  at  the 
expense  of  his  mother-in-law. 


. - iL  IN  R USSIA—MARRIA  GE  5 5 

Catherine,  nevertheless,  rapidly  took  root  in 
her  new  situation.  She  even  seized  the  occasion 
to  become  more  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
vast  domain  that  she  would  one  day  be  called  to 
govern.  She  made,  in  the  company  of  the  Grand 
Duke  and  of  her  mother,  the  journey  to  Kief 
which,  forty  years  after,  she  was  to  make  over 
again  with  such  pomp  and  splendour,  and  the  im- 
pression of  this  journey  was  destined  never  to  be 
effaced  from  her  memory,  but  to  have  a visible 
influence  on  her  mind  and  even  on  the  char- 
acter of  her  future  government.  Journeying  five 
hundred  miles  without  ever  leaving  the  domains 
of  Elizabeth,  without  ever  seeing  anything  but 
crowds  prostrate  before  the  omnipotence  of 
the  Czarina,  the  little  German  Prince.ss,  ac- 
customed to  the  narrow  horizons  of  the  puny 
sovereignties  of  her  country,  felt  the  rise  and  de- 
velopment in  her  of  an  idea  of  grandeur  and  force 
absolutely  without  limits.  It  was  this  idea  that, 
become  Empress,  she  felt  to  be  incarnated  in  her, 
and  destined  to  subdue  the  world.  At  the  same 
time,  with  her  young,  clear-eyed  sagacity,  her 
already  just  perception  of  things,  .'■he  perceived 
the  seamy  side  of  all  this  pomp  and  splendour, 
this  magnificent  empire  one  day  to  be  hers.  At 
St.  Petersburg,  at  Moscow,  she  had  till  now  had 
before  her  eyes  only  the  throne  glittering  with 
gold,  the  diamond-starred  court,  the  outer 
drapings  of  the  imperial  majesty,  lined  with  a 
somewhat  barbarous  showiness  and  a half-Asiatic 
luxuriousness,  but  so  much  the  more  imposing. 
She  now  found  herself  face  to  face  with  the  roots 
and  sources  of  this  unparalleled  splendour : she 
saw  the  Russian  people  as  they  were,  she  saw 


56  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

them  with  astonishment,  with  affright.  They 
were  sordid  and  savage,  half-clothed,  shivering 
with  cold  and  hunger  in  their  smoky  hovels,  and 
bearing  like  a cross  the  double  yoke  of  misery 
and  servitude.  The  lamentable  vices  of  the 
social  and  political  organisation,  frightful  abuses 
of  power,  forced  themselves  upon  her.  And  all 
those  attempts  Tit  reform,  all  those  generous 
instincts,  all  the  liberal  ideas  that  were  to  mark 
the  first  part  of  her  reign,  had  their  origin  in  this 
first  rapid  vision  of  things. 

On  her  return  to  Moscow  she  had  also  to  make 
experience  of  another  side  of  the  picture  : the 
little  annoyances  inseparable  from  so  elevated  a 
rank.  One  evening  at  the  theatre,  in  the  Grand 
Duke’s  box,  opposite  to  that  of  the  Empress,  she 
observed  the  angry  looks  of  the  Empress  turned 
in  her  direction.  Presently  the  obsequious  Les- 
tocq,  with  whom  the  sovereign  had  just  been 
conferring,  presented  himself  before  her,  and 
drily,  almost  brutally,  with  the  visible  intention  of 
making  the  rigidity  of  his  attitude  felt,  explained 
to  her  the  reason  of  the  Czarina’s  anger.  Cathe- 
rine had  got  into  debt — 17,000  roubles,  besides 
the  75,000  francs  that  she  had  spent  in  a few 
months.  Her  treasure  had  slipped  between 
her  fingers,  one  day  to  shed  a shower  of  gold 
through  the  empire,  through  all  Europe.  But 
what  was  she  to  do  ? Was  she  to  content  herself 
with  the  three  dresses  that  she  had  brought  to 
Russia } She  had  had,  at  first,  to  borrow  the 
very  bedclothes  of  her  mother.  She  could  not 
decently  continue  in  such  a fashion.  Then,  too, 
she  had  soon  found  out  that  in  this  court,  as 
much  and  more  than  in  that  of  Zerbst,  presents 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  57 

make  friends,  and  that  a person  in  her  position 
had  no  other  means  of  paying  for  so  indispens- 
able an  outlay.  The  Grand  Duke  himself  had  a 
marked  predilection  for  this  means  of  forwarding 
the  good  terms  on  which  he  hoped  to  keep  with 
his  fiancee.  Finally,  the  Countess  Roumiantsof 
had  her  own  way  of  reading  the  responsibilities 
of  her  position  as  lady  in  waiting— a responsibility 
which  seemed  to  her  to  lie  in  the  direction  of 
perquisites. 

In  her  memoirs,  from  which  we  take  these 
details,  Catherine  is  very  severe  upon  those  who 
were  at  this  time  in  attendance  on  her,  nor  does 
she  spare  the  Grand  Duke  himself,  with  whom, 
in  spite  of  his  generosity,  her  relations,  up  to  the 
present,  had  not  been  specially  cordial.  Perhaps 
she  gave  way  to  the  temptation  of  blackening  this 
corner  of  the  picture.  A letter  in  her  writing, 
which  dates  from  this  period,  seems  to  justify  the 
supposition.  The  Grand  Duke  had  been  attacked 
by  a pleurisy,  in  the  month  of  October,  and  was 
obliged,  despite  his  impatience,  to  keep  his  room. 
Th.'s  is  what  Catherine  writes  to  him  (we  respect 
the  style  and  orthography  of  the  document)  : — 

' Monsiegneur,  ayant  consulte  ma  Mere,  sach- 
ant  qu’elle  peut  beaucoup  sur  le  grand-marechal 
(Briimmer),  elle  m’a  permis  de  lui  en  parler  et 
de  faire  qu’on  vous  permettent  de  jouer  sur  les 
instrumens.  Elle  m’a  aussy  chargde  de  vous 
demander.  Monseigneur,  sy  vous  voulez  quelques 
Italiens  aujourd’hui  apres  Midy.  Je  vous  assure 
que  je  deviendray  folle  en  Votre  place  sy  on 
m’otois  tous.  Je  vous  prie  au  Nom  de  Dieu,  ne 
- — lui  montrez  pas  ses  billets. 

^ 5 


Catherine.’ 


58 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


This  may  do  something  to  rehabilitate  the 
Princess  of  Zerbst  herself  from  the  accusations 
of  crabbed  and  cross-grained  temper  that  her 
daughter  was  fond  of  bringing  against  her 
memory.  Two  months  later,  in  December,  we 
find  Catherine  imploring,  with  tears  and  prayers, 
that  she  may  be  allowed  to  see  her  betrothed, 
who,  having  recovered  from  the  pleurisy,  has  just 
been  attacked  by  another  and  more  dangerous 
disease.  On  his  way  from  Moscow  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, at  Hotilof,  Peter  was  brought  to  a stop : 
smallpox  had  manifested  itself.  It  was  of  this 
disease  that  the  betrothed  of  Elizabeth  had  died. 
The  Czarina  promptly  sent  Catherine  and  her 
mother  out  of  the  way  to  St.  Petersburg,  and 
took  up  her  place  by  the  bedside  of  her  son. 
Catherine  wrote  the  tenderest  letters  to  her  be- 
trothed, letters  in  which,  for  the  first  time,  she 
used  the  Russian  language.  The  letters,  it  is 
true,  were  really  written  by  her  Russian  master, 
Adadourof,  whose  writing  she  copied. 

This  second  stay  at  St.  Petersburg  was  marked 
for  Catherine  by  the  arrival  of  Count  Gyllemborg, 
an  envoy  from  Sweden,  who  brought  news  of  the 
marriage  of  the  heir  to  the  throne,  Adolph- 
Frederick,  Catherine’s  uncle,  with  the  Princess 
Ulrica  of  Prussia.  Catherine  had  already  met 
the  Swede  at  Hamburg,  in  1740.  He  had  then 
recognised  in  her  ‘ a philosophical  mind.’  He 
now  wanted  to  know  how  the  philosophy  was 
getting  on,  and  urged  her  to  read  Plutarch,  the 
life  of  Cicero,  and  the  Causes  de  la  GroMdeur  et  de 
la  Decadence  des  Romains.  In  return,  Catherine 
offered  to  the  grave  philosopher  her  portrait, 
‘ the  portrait  of  a philosopher  of  fifteen,’  composed 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  sq 

by  her  in  his  honour,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  age.  The  original  of  this  composition,  which 
she  laid  claim  to  later  on,  was  unluckily  burnt  by 
her,  and  no  copy  is  to  be  found  in  the  papers 
of  Count  Gyllemborg,  which  are  preserved  in 
the  university  of  Upsal.  In  her  memoirs  Cathe- 
rine states  that,  on  seeing  this  juvenile  work  in 
1758,  she  was  astonished  at  the  truth  and  depth 
of  the  characteristics  she  had  there  noted.  It  is 
to  be  regretted  that  she  has  iik)t  given  us  the 
chance  of  verifying  this  appreciation. 

Peter  was  not  able  to  set  out  for  St.  Peters- 
burg till  the  end  of  January.  Castera  relates  that 
Catherine,  having  embraced  her  betrothed  with 
every  sign  of  the  greatest  delight,  fainted  away 
as  soon  as  she  had  reached  her  room,  and  did  not 
recover  consciousness  for  three  hours.  The 
smallpox  had  not  improved  the  appearance  of 
the  Grand  Duke.  The  marks  on  his  face,  and 
an  enormous  wig  in  which  he  was  muffled  to  hide 
other  ravages,  rendered  him  almost  unrecog- 
nisable. The  Princess  of  Zerbst  was  alone  in 
finding  him  better  looking  than  ever — as  she 
reported  to  her  husband.  Castera  no  doubt 
exaggerated  in  his  story,  as  he  was  accustomed 
to  do,  and  the  Princess  remembered  that  letters 
sent  through  the  post  at  St.  Petersburg  were 
copied  without  extra  charge.  However  that 
may  have  been,  the  preparations  for  the  marriage 
commenced  soon  after  this  auspicious,  or  in- 
auspicious, return. 

VII 

Such  a ceremony  had  never  yet  been  seen  in 
Russia.  The  marriage  of  the  Czarevitch  Alexis, 


6o  CAl  HERINE  II.  OF  R US  SI  A 

son  of  Peter  I.,  had  taken  place  at  Targau,  in 
Saxony,  and,  before  his  time,  the  heirs  to  the 
throne  of  Moscbw  were  not  future  Emperors. 
Inquiries  were  made  in  France,  where  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Dauphin  had  just  been  celebrated, 
and  also  at  the  court  of  Saxony.  From  Versailles 
and  from  Dresden  arrived  abundant  memoranda, 
minute  descriptions,  drawings  even,  giving  the 
minutest  details  jof  the  pomps  to  be  imitated,  to 
be  surpassed.  As  soon  as  the  ice  was  broken  up 
on  the  Neva,  English  and  German  vessels  fol- 
lowed one  another  with  equipages,  furniture, 
draperies,  liveries;,  ordered  from  every  corner  of 
Europe.  Christian-August  sent  a present  of 
Zerbst  goods,  heavy  pieces  of  silk  broidered  with 
gold  and  silver,  much  thought  of  at  that  time. 
P'lowered  silks  were  in  fashion  then,  gold  or 
silver  on  a clear  ground.  England  was  specially 
noted  for  them,  and  Zerbst  came  next  in  order, 
in  the  opinion  of  connoisseurs. 

\f  After  many  alterations,  the  date  of  the  cere- 
mony was  at  last  fixed  for  the  2 rst  Aup-ust..  The 
festivities  were  to  last  till  the  30th.  The  Grand 
Duke’s  physicians  would  have  wished  for  a longer 
postponement.  In  March  Peter  had  again  had 
to  take  to  his  bed.  A year  seemed  scarcely  long 
enough  to  set  him  on  his  feet  again  entirely. 
But  Elizabeth  would  not  wait.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  she  was  in  a hurry  to  get  rid  of 
Catherine’s  mother.  Probably  she  had  more 
serious  reasons  for  showing  impatience.  Peter 
was  in  such  uncertain  health,  that  the  succession 
to  the  throne  was  anything  but  assured,  and  the 
remembrance  of  the  young  Ivan,  shut  up  in  his 
prison,  still  haunted  her.  In  June  1745  an  un- 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  6i 

known  man  had  been  found,  poniard  in  hand, 
in  Elizabeth’s  bedroom.  He  had  been  put  to 
the  torture,  but  had  preserved  silence.  It  ap- 
pears, nevertheless,  ou  the  best  authority,  that 
Jeanne- Elizabeth  continued  to  make  herself  very 
disagreeable.  There  was  no  dirty  business  in 
which  she  is  not  implicated  during  the  last  weeks 
of  her  residence  in  Russia.  She  plots  and  plans 
and  intrigues  without  cease.  She  even  goes  so 
Tar  as  to  accuse  her  daughter,  declaring  that  she 
is  having  nocturnal  rendezvous  with  her  be- 
trothed. The  Empress  intercepts  her  corre- 
spondence and  carefully  examines  it.  She  does 
not  invite  her  husband  to  the  ceremony  which  is 
about  to  take  place.  The  Princess  of  Zerbst  has 
long  held  out  the  hope  of  this  invitation  to  her 
husband,  telling  him  to  hold  himself  ready, 
putting  him  off  from  day  to  day  and  from 
month  to  month.  Frederick  himself,  misled  by 
Mardefeldt,  has  raised  similar  expectations  in 
the  mind  of  his  field  - marshal.  At  length 
Jeanne- Elizabeth  has  to  confess  that  there  is 
more  chance  of  her  being  herself  sent  away 
before  the  ceremony. 

The  Princess’s  brother  was  the  only  one  of  the 
family  to  be  present ; thanks  to  the  treachery,  it 
is  said,  of  Bestoujef.  Homely,  uncouth,  poor- 
spirited  August  of  Holstein  was  not  a nice 
relative  to  produce  in  public.  The  English 
ambassador  Hindford  declares  in  his  despatches 
that  he  never  saw  so  fine  a procession  as  that 
which  conducted  Catherine  to  the  church  of  Our 
Lady  of  Kasan.  The  religious  ceremony  began 
at  ten  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  was  not  over 
till  four  o’clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  orthodox 


62 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


church  does  things  conscientiously.  During  the 
following  days  there  was  a constant  succession  of 
files.  Balls,  masquerades,  state  dinners  and 
suppers,  the  Italian  opera,  the  French  plays, 
illuminations,  fireworks,  nothing  was  wanting  to 
the  programme.  The  Princess  of  Zerbst  ha^  left 
us  a detailed  description  of  the  most  interesting 
day,  the  day  of  the  wedding  : — 

The  ball  did  not  last  beyond  half-past  one  in 
the  morning;  after  which  Her  Imperial  Majesty, 
preceded  by  the  masters  of  the  ceremonies,  the 
grand  master  of  household,  the  grand  marshal,  and 
the  grand  chamberlain  of  the  Grand  Duke’s  court, 
and  followed  only  by  the  bride  and  bridegroom, 
holding  one  another’s  hands,  by  me,  by  my  brother, 
the  Princess  of  Hesse,  the  mistress  of  the  robes, 
the  staats  dames,  the  cammer  frelen,  and  some 
frelen,  directed  her  steps  to  the  nuptial  chamber, 
which  the  men  all  quitted  as  soon  as  the  ladies 
had  entered,  and  the  doors  were  closed,  while  the 
bridegroom  entered  the  dressing-room.  F irst  the 
bride  was  undressed.  Her  Imperial  Majesty 
took  off  the  crown  from  her  head ; I waived,  in 
favour  of  the  Princess  of  Hesse,  the  honour  of 
putting  on  the  chemise.  The  mistress  of  the 
robes  put  on  the  dressing-gown,  and  the  rest  of 
the  ladies  helped  to  adjust  the  most  magnificen-t 
deshabille  imaginable. 

‘ Except  this  ceremony,’  observes  the  Princess 
of  Zerbst,  ‘ there  is  much  less  undressing  of  bride 
and  bridegroom  than  there  is  with  us.  Not  a 
man  dares  enter  after  the  bridegroom  has  gone 
to  undress  for  the  night.  The  ‘‘garland  ” 
is  not  danced,  and  the  garter  is  not  handed 
round. 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  63 

‘ As  soon  as  the  Grand  Duchess  was  dressed, 
her  Imperial  Majesty  went  into  the  Grand 
Duke’s  room,  where  the  Master  of  the  Hunt, 
Count  Razonmovski,  and  my  brother  had  aided 
him  to  undress.  We  followed  the  Princess  in. 

He  was  dressed  much  like  the  bride,  but  he  did 
not  look  near  so  well.  Her  Imperial  Majesty 
then  gave  them  her  benediction,  which  they 
received  kneeling.  She  embraced  them  tenderly, 
and  left  the  Princess  of  Hesse,  the  Countess  of 
Roumiantsof,  and  myself,  to  put  them  to  bed.  I 
tried  to  speak  to  her  of  the  thanks  and  gratitude 
I owed  her,  but  she  only  laughed  at  me.’ 

We  owe  to  the  pen  of  Jeanne-Elizabeth  a 
description  of  the  suite  of  rooms  reserved  for  the 
bride  and  bridegroom  : — 

‘ It  consists  of  four  large  rooms,  one  more 
beautiful  than  aaother.  The  principal  room  is 
the  richest ; the  hangings  are  of  cloth  of  silver 
embroidered  with  silk,  of  the  finest  possible 
shading ; the  furniture  all  matches : chairs, 
curtains,  portures.  The  bedroom  is  in  red  velvet, 
almost  scarlet.  It  is  embroidered  with  columns 
and  garlands  in  raised  silver;  the  bed  is  in  they^ 
middle.  The  furniture  all  matches.  It  is  all  so 
fine,  so  majestic,  that  you  cannot  see  it  without 
being  transfixed  with  admiration.’ 

The  series  of  fHes  ended  with  a ceremony  of  a 
unique  kind,  never  afterwards  to  be  repeated. 
For  the  last  time  the  Diedouchka  (grandsire)  of 
the  Russian  P'leet,  a ship  constructed  by  Peter  the 
Great  himself,  according  to  the  legend,  was  set 
afloat.  By  a ukase  dated  September  2,  1724,  that 
monarch  had  ordered  that  the  ship  should  be  thus 
launched  on  the  30th  August  of  every  year,  and 


64 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


kept  the  rest  of  the  time  in  the  monastery  of 
Alexander  Nevski.  After  his  death,  ukase  and 
ship  were  alike  forgotten.  It  was  only  in  1724 
that  Elizabeth  thought  of  it.  She  attempted  the 
ceremony  again  the  following  year,  on  the  occasion 
of  her  nephew’s  marriage,  and  then  it  was  done 
with  for  ever.  A raft  had  to  be  made  to  support 
the  ship,  which  could  no  longer  hold  water. 
Elizabeth  went  on  board  in  great  pomp,  and 
kissed  the  portrait  of  her  father,  which  was 
suspended  to  a mast. 

A month  later,  the  Princess  of  Zerbst  parted 
for  ever  from  her  daughter  and  from  the  court  of 
Russia.  In  taking  leave  of  the  Empress,  she 
threw  herself  at  her  feet,  and  asked  pardon  for  all 
the  trouble  that  she  had  caused  her.  Elizabeth 
drily  replied  that  ‘ it  was  too  late  to  speak  about 
it,  but  that  if  the  Princess  ha<i  always  been  so 
humble,  it  would  have  been  better  for  everybody.’ 
In  her  own  account  of  the  parting  scene,  Jeanne- 
Elizabeth  only  speaks  of  the  graciousness  of  the 
Empress,  of  the  reciprocal  tenderness,  of  the  tears 
of  regret  shed  by  both.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  the  court  tears  were  at  that  time  current 
coin,  and  Jeanne- Elizabeth,  despite  the  failure  of 
her  political  enterprises,  did  not  lack  diplomacy 
in  what  she  wrote. 

A terrible  blow  overtook  her  at  Riga.  A letter 
of  Elizabeth,  which  reached  her  there,  charged 
her  to  demand  at  the  court  of  Berlin  the  im- 
mediate recall  of  Mardefeldt.  This  meant 
absolute  ruin  to  the  hopes  that  Frederick  himself, 
generally  more  wide  awake,  had  founded  on  the 
Princess’s  intervention  with  the  Empress  ; hopes 
that  she  had  done  her  best  to  encourage.  It  so 


ARRIVAL  IN  RUSSIA— MARRIAGE  65 

happened  that  on  the  very  day  of  the  departure 
of  Jeanne-Elizabeth  from  St.  Petersburg,  Octo- 
ber 10,  1745,  the  Empress  had  discovered  the 
measures  which  were  being  taken  by  Frederick  to 
induce  the  new  husband  of  the  Princess,  Louise- 
Ulrica,  and  the  brother  of  the  Princess  of  Zerbst, 
to  confirm  his  claim  to  the  Duchy  of  Holstein. 
Frederick  conceived  that  the  possession  of  this 
Duchy  was  incompatible  with  that  of  the  throne 
of  Russia.  At  the  same  time  came  the  news  of 
the  first  successes  of  the  Prussian  army  in  Saxony 
(at  Sorr,  September  30),  and  the  Council  of  the 
Empire,  instantly  convoked,  decided  that  it  was 
advisable  to  send  a body  of  soldiers  to  the  support 
of  the  King  of  Poland,  attacked  in  his  hereditary 
domains.  From  that  time  Mardefeldt,  the  friend 
and  political  ally  of  the  Princess  of  Zerbst,  and 
consequently  of  her  brother,  became  impossible  at 
St.  Petersburg. 

Thus  had  Jeanne-Elizabeth  succeeded  in 
making  her  daughter  Grand  Duchess  of  Russia, 
and  with  very  little  trouble  on  her  part.  On  every 
other  point,  notwithstanding  that  she  had  put 
forth  all  the  resources  of  her  intelligence  and  of 
her  indefatigable  activity,  her  failure  had  been 
complete.  Among  other  ihings,  we  may  note  in 
passing,  she  had  endeavoured  to  make  her  hus- 
band a Duke  of  Courland,  and  with  the  same 
want  of  success. 

Nevertheless,  Catherine  gave  way  to  tears,  not 
mere  court  tears,  over  the  departure  of  this  rest- 
less mother  of  hers.  And  well  she  might.  It  was 
a mother,  after  all,  and  the  single  person,  amidst 
all  her  new  splendours,  whose  affection  she  could 
not  call  in  question,  however  little  she  might  agree 


66 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


with  her  advice.  Her  absence  left  a great  void 
about  her.  It  is  from  this  moment,  in  such  a 
solitude,  the  great  element  of  strong  natures,  that 
the  real  education  of  the  future  Empress  was  to 
begin,  an  education  of  which  Mile.  Cardel  had  not 
dreamed. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE 

I 

Despite  her  precocity,  Catherine  was  still  only  a 
child.  Despite  her  orthodox  name  and  her 
official  title,  she  was  only  a stranger,  brought  by 
chance  into  Russia  that  she  might  hold  high  rank 
there,  and  one  to  whom  it  was  no  easy  thing  to 
hold  herself  on  the  level  of  so  high  a station.  If 
she  were  ever  to  forget  it  for  a moment,  as  she 
would  seem  to  a certain  extent  to  have  done,  there 
was  always  some  one  to  remind  her  of  it  sharply 
enough.  It  seems  that  once  having  attained  her 
end,  once  married.  Mile.  Cardel’s  pupil  somewhat 
relaxed  the  propriety  of  demeanour  which  had 
hitherto  gained  for  her  unanimous  approbation. 
The  ‘gracious  instructions’  of  Christian- August 
appeared  to  have  escaped  her  memory.  She  was 
soon  to  receive  others,  somewhat  less  paternal. 

On  the  loth  or  nth  of  May  1746,  less  than 
nine  months  after  the  marriage,  two  documents 
concerning  the  Grand  Duke  and  Duchess  were 
presented  for  signature  to  the  Empress.  Their 
object  appeared  to  be  to  fix  the  choice  and 


regulate  the  conduct  of  the  two  ‘ pe; 
distinction  ’ who  were  to  be  assigned  l 
Imperial  Highnesses  as  master  of  the  hous3 
and  mistress  of  the  robes.  Their  real  end 
quite  other.  Under  pretext  of  filling  a place 
the  official  list  of  offices,  it  was  really  two  tutor, 
and  spies  who  were  set  over  Catherine  and  her 
husband.  They  were  put  to  school  again,  so  to 
speak.  And,  under  colour  of  indicating  the 
programme  of  this  complementary  education,  it 
was  an  act  of  accusation  that  was  drawn  up  against 
the  young  people,  whose  conduct  had  rendered 
necessary  the  application  of  such  a measure.  The 
mover  in  this  matter,  the  concocter  of  the  two 
documents,  was  Bestoujef  in  person. 

This  work  of  the  chancellor  has  been  preserved. 
It  abounds  in  truly  extraordinary  revelations,  so 
extraordinary,  indeed,  that  we  should  treat  them 
with  incredulity  if  we  were  not  able  to  check  them 
by  another  testimony.  This  testimony  is  to  be 
found  in  Catherine’s  memoirs.  The  author  of  the 
memoirs  repeats  in  almost  identical  terms  every- 
thing that  is  said  by  Bestoujef  of  the  doings  and 
sayings  of  Catherine  and  her  husband  at  this 
period  of  their  life.  In  certain  respects  the  pen  of 
Catherine  is  even  more  frank  than  that  of  the 
chancellor,  and  it  is  from  her  that  we  learn  the 
most  dubious  details,  even  in  respect  to  herself. 

The  ‘ person  of  distinction  ’ assigned  to  the 
Grand  Duke  as  companion  wfll  make  it  his 
business,  we  read  in  the  chancellor’s  report,  to 
correct  certain  unseemly  habits  of  his  Imperial 
Highness,  as,  for  example,  that  of  throwing  the 
contents  of  his  glass  at  the  servants  who  wait 
table,  that  of  greeting  every  one  who  has  the 


w 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

of  approaching  him,  including  even  the 
rs  who  visit  his  court,  with  gross  jests  and 
ent  pleasantries  ; that  of  disfiguring  himself 
|)ublic  with  grimaces  and  with  incessant  con- 
rtions  of  all  his  members. 

‘ The  Grand  Duke,’  we  read  in  the  memoirs, 

‘ passed  his  time  in  childish  pursuits  unworthy  of 
his  age.  ...  He  had  a theatre  of  marionettes  in 
his  room,  the  stupidest  thing  in  the  world.  . . . 
The  Grand  Duke  passed  his  time  literally  in  the 
company  of  valets.  . . . The  Grand  Duke  put  all 
his  suite  under  arms  : the  servants,  the  huntsmen, 
the  gardeners,  all  had  muskets  on  shoulder  . . . 
the  corridor  of  the  house  served  as  guard- 
room.  . . . The  Grand  Duke  grumbled  at  me  on 
account  of  what  he  termed  my  excessive  devo- 
tion ; but  having  no  one  but  me  to  speak  to 
during  mass,  he  ceased  complaining.  When  the 
Grand  Duke  learnt  that  I fasted  on  Fridays,  he 
grumbled  at  me  more  than  ever.’ 

The  same  figure  of  the  ill-bred,  unmannerly 
child  with  vicious  instincts  stands  out  in  both 
reports,  even  more  prominently,  in  some  respects, 
in  the  second. 

Let  us  now  look  at  Catherine’s  share  in  the 
matter.  There  are  three  principal  complaints 
brought  against  her  by  the  chancellor:  negli- 
gence in  the  observances  of  the  orthodox  religion  ; 
prohibited  intefTefence  with  the  affairs  of  state, 
those  of  the  empire  and  those  of  the  Duchy  of 
Holstein ; excessive  familiarity  with  the  young 
lords  of  the  court,  the  gentlemen  in  waiting,  and 
even  the  pages  and  valets.  This  last  point  is 
evidently  the  most  serious  ; and  it  is  on  this  that 
Catherine  enlarges  in  her  memoirs,  in  the 


THE  SECOND  ED  UCA  TION  OF  CA  THERINE  69 

clearest  fashion,  leaving  no  doubt  whatever  as  to 
the  familiarity,  to  say  no  more,  of  her  relations  at 
this  time  with  three  at  least  of  the  young  people 
at  court,  the  three  brothers  Tchernichef,  all  tall, 
well-made  persons,  extremely  in  favour  Avith  the 
Grand  Duke,  The  eldest,  Andre,  the  most 
brilliant  of  the  three,  was  the  favourite  of  Peter, 
and  soon  of  Catherine,  She  called  him  affec- 
tionately her  ‘ petit  fils  ’ ; he  gave  her  the  name 
of  ‘ petite  mere,’  Peter  not  only  tolerated  this 
intimacy,  he  encouraged  it,  and  pushed  it  to 
excess,  even  to  the  forgetfulness  of  the  most 
elementary  proprieties.  He  carried  everything 
to  excess,  and  cared  little  for  impropriety  of 
demeanour  in  himself  or  in  those  about  him. 
While  Catherine  was  still  only  betrothed,  Andre 
had  reminded  him  that  the  daughter  of  the 
Princess  of  Zerbst  was  destined  to  be  called 
Grand  Duchess  of  Russia,  and  not  Mme,  Tcher- 
nichef, Peter  burst  out  laughing  at  this  ex- 
planation, which  seemed  to  him  extremely  droll, 
and  it  only  served  to  make  him  give  his  friend 
the  name  of  ‘fiance  de  Catherine,’  ‘Votre 
fianc6,’  he  said  to  her  in  speaking  of  the  young 
man,  Catherine,  for  her  part,  tells  us  that  she 
was  remonstrated  with  by  one  of  her  valets  de 
chambre.^  Timofei  Jevreimof,  who  felt  it  to  be  his 
duty  to  warn  her  of  the  perils  to  which  she  was 
exposing  herself.  She  pretends,  it  is  true,  to 
have  acted  in  all  innocence  and  ignorance,  either 
of  evil  or  of  danger,  Timofei  also  warned 
Tchernichef,  who,  on  his  advice,  feigned  illness 
for  a time.  This  was  during  the  carnival  of 
1746,  In  April,  when  the  court  was  moved 
from  the  Winter  to  the  Summer  Palace,  Tcherni- 


70  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

chef  reappears,  and  tries  to  get  into  Catherine’s 
room.  She  bars  the  way,  but  without  thinking 
of  fastening  her  door,  which  would  certainly 
have  been  more  prudent.  She  holds  it  half- 
open, and  continues  a conversation  which  no 
doubt  she  finds  interesting.  Suddenly  there 
comes  on  the  scene  Count  Devierre,  one  of  the 
heroes  of  the  Seven  Years’  War,  at  present 
chamberlain  at  the  court,  and  spy  also,  it  would 
seem.  He  informs  the  Grand  Duchess  that  the 
Grand  Duke  wishes  to  see  her.  Next  day  the 
Tchernichefs  are  sent  away  from  the  court,  and 
the  same  day  the  ‘ distinguished  lady  ’ charged  to 
look  after  the  conduct  of  Catherine  makes  her 
appearance.  The  coincidence  is  significant.  Nor 
does  Elizabeth  stop  there.  She  imposes  both  on 
Catherine  and  on  Peter  a sort  of  ‘ retreat,’  in  the 
course  of  which  Simon  Todorski,  the  zealous 
archimandrite  and  Bishop  of  Pskof,  is  instructed 
to  interrogate  them  on  their  relations  with  the 
Tchernichefs.  The  Tchernichefs  themselves  are 
put  under  arrest,  and  undergo  a similar  interro- 
gation, more  pressing  still,  and  no  doubt  less 
mild.  No  one  confesses  to  anything.  Never- 
theless Catherine  speaks  of  a correspondence 
that  she  has  found  means  to  carry  on  with  Andre 
Tchernichef,  even  while  he  is  in  prison.  She 
wrote  to  him,  he  replied ; she  gave  him  com- 
missions, -which  he  executed.  Let  us  assume 
that  at  this  time  she  acted  innocently.  Later  on 
we  shall  have  to  be  less  indulgent. 

It  was  certainly  a singular  and  unfortunate 
idea,  as  the  event  proved,  to  attempt  to  treat  a 
married  woman  and  a Grand  Duchess  of  Russia 
as  if  she  were  a little  girl.  Catherine  was  ex- 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OE  CATHERINE  ^\ 

pressly  forbidden  to  write  directly  and  personally 
to  any  one,  even  to  her  father  and  mother.  She 
was  only  to  sign  the  letters  written  for  her  at  the 
Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs,  that  is  to  say,  under 
the  secretaryship  of  Bestoujef.  This  was  actually 
to  invite  Catherine  to  engage  in  a secret  corre- 
spondence, so  much  in  vogue  then.  She  was 
not  long  in  doing  so.  Just  then  there  arrived  at 
the  court  of  St.  Petersburg  an  Italian  gentleman 
of  the  name  of  Sacromoso,  a Knight  of  Malta. 
A Knight  of  Malta-  had  not  been  seen  in  Russia 
for  a long  time.  He  was  received  with  great 
honour.  He  was  present  at  all  the  fetes,  and  at 
both  the  official  and  private  receptions.  One 
day,  in  kissing  the  Grand  Duchess’s  hand,  he 
slipt  into  it  a note : ‘ From  your  mother,’  he 
murmured,  so  as  to  be  heard  by  no  one.  At  the 
same  time  he  pointed  out  a musician  in  the 
Grand  Duke’s  orchestra,  a compatriot  of  the 
name  of  Ololio,  as  the  man  who  would  take 
charge  of  the  reply.  Catherine  deftly  hid  the 
note  in  her  glove.  It  was  not  the  first  time,  no 
doubt.  Sacromoso  had  not -deceived  her:  it 
was  really  her  mother  who  had  written  to  her. 
Having  written  her  answer,  she  followed  atten- 
tively, for  the  first  time — for  she  had  no  taste  for 
music — the  concerts  of  the  Grand  Duke.  The 
man  who  had  been  pointed  out  to  her,  seeing  her 
approach,  carelessly  drew  his  handkerchief  out  of 
his  vest-pocket,  so  as  to  leave  the  pocket  wide 
open.  Catherine  threw  her  letter  into  this 
improvised  letter-box,  and  the  correspondence 
was  started.  It  lasted  during  the  whole  time 
that  Sacromoso  was  at  St.  Petersburg.  Thus 
was  put  to  nought  the  wisdom  of  statesmen  and 


72 


CATHERINE  II.  OERUSSIA 


the  power  of  an  Empress,  for  having  failed  to 
reckon  with  that  other  power  of  youth,  and  that 
other  wisdom,  which  bids  that  its  power  be  not 
abused. 


II 

We  may  here  pause  for  a moment  to  throw 
a rapid  glance  over  the  surroundings  in  which 
Catherine  found  herself  placed,  through  so  many 
long  years  of  initiation.  The  Russia  of  the 
eighteenth  century  is  a building  all  front,  a piece 
of  scene-painting.  Peter  I.  endeavoured  to  put 
his  court  on  a European  footing,  and  his  suc- 
cessors did  their  best  to  maintain  and  develop  his 
work.  At  St.  Petersburg  as  at  Moscow,  Elizabeth 
is  surrounded  with  all  the  pomp  and  splendour  of 
other  civilised  countries.  She  has  palaces  in 
which  there  are  suite  after  suite  of  rooms,  the 
walls  covered  with  tall  mirrors,  the  floors  inlaid, 
the  ceilings  painted  by  great  artists.  She  gives 
files  which  are  crowded  with  courtiers  dressed  in 
velvet  and  silk,  laced  with  gold,  starred  with 
diamonds ; where  the  court  ladies  appear  in  the 
newest  fashior.  ■,  with  powdered  hair,  rouged 
cheeks,  and  a-l^,  ling  patch  at  the  corner  of  the 
lips.  She  has  her  retinue,  her  itat  de  maison,  ' 
her  train  of  chamberlains,  of  maids  of  honour,  of  ‘ 
officers  of  the  court,  and  of  servants,  which,  for 
number  and  splendour  of  uniforms,  has  not  its 
equal  in  Europe.  According  to  certain  con-  j 
temporary  accounts,  which  modern  Russian 
writers  have  perhaps  too  implicitly  believed,  the  j 
imperial  residence  of  Peterhof  exceeds  in  mag-  j 
nificence  that  of  Versailles.  To  judge  of  the  j 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  73 

matter,  we  must  look  a little  closely  into  all  these 
splendours. 

And,  to  begin  with,  they  have  for  the  most 
part  something  precarious  and  ephemeral  which 
takes  off  much  of  their  value.  Her  Majesty’s 
palaces,  like  those  of  her  most  opulent  subjects, 
are  almost  entirely  made  of  wood.  When  they 
catch  fire,  and  that  often  happens,  all  the  treasures 
with  which  they  are  heaped  up,  furniture  and 
works  of  art,  disappear  in  the  disaster.  They  are 
rebuilt  always  in  a hurry,  without  an  attempt  to 
make  a durable  piece  of  work.  The  palace  at 
Moscow,  three  kilometres  and  a half  in  circum- 
ference, burns  in  three  hours  under  the  eyes  of 
Catherine.  Elizabeth  gives  orders  that  it  is 
to  be  rebuilt  in  six  weeks,  and  she  is  obeyed. 
It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  the  construction  is 
like.  The  doors  will  not  shut,  the  windows 
let  in  the  draught,  the  chimneys  smoke.  The 
house  of  the  high  priest  of  Moscow,  in  which 
Catherine  takes  refuge  after  the  burning  of 
the  palace,  catches  fire  three  times  while  she 
is  there. 

Then  there  is  no  idea  of  comfort  or  convenience 
in  these  outwardly  imposing  str  'tures.  Every- 
where sumptuous  reception-ro  ;,  magnificent 
galleries  for  balls  and  gala  dinners,  and  scarcely  a 
corner  to  live  in — only  a few  little  rooms  without 
light  or  air.  The  wing  of  the  summer  palace  at 
St.  Petersburg,  in  which  Catherine  lives,  looks 
out  on  one  side  on  the  Fontanka,  which  at  that 
time  is  a pool  of  fetid  mire ; on  the  other,  upon 
a court  a few  feet  square.  At  Moscow  it  is 
worse  still.  ‘ They  stowed  us  away,’  writes 
Catherine,  ‘ in  a wooden  wing  built  during  the 


74 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSL 


autumn,  so  that  the  water  dropt  from  the  ceiling, 
and  all  the  rooms  were  dreadfully  damp.  This 
wing  contained  two  ranges  of  five  or  six  rooms 
each,  of  which  the  one  looking  on  the  street  was 
mine  and  the  other  the  Grand  Duke’s.  In  my 
dressing-room  were  stowed  away  all  my  waiting- 
maids  and  other  servants,  so  that  there  were 
seventeen  women  and  girls  in  one  room,  a room 
which  had,  it  is  true,  three  large  windows,  but  no 
outlet  except  through  my  bedroom,  which  they 
had  to  pass  through  every  time  they  went  in  and 
out.  . . . Besides  that,  their  dining-room  was  one 
of  my  anterooms.’  At  length  another  com-v^ 
munication  with  the  outer  world  was  made  for 
this  feminine  establishment,  by  means  of  a single 
plank  going  from  the  window  to  the  ground  and 
serving  as  a ladder.  Surely  that  is  different 
enough  from  Versailles! 

Catherine  sometimes  regretted  her  modest 
dwelling-place  by  the  clock-tower  of  Stettin,  or 
sighed  after  the  castle  of  her  uncle  John  at 
Zerbst,  or  that  of  her  grandmother  at  Hamburg, 
heavy,  but  solid  and  spacious  constructions  in  cut 
stone,  dating  from  the  sixteenth  century.  And 
she  took  her  revenge  on  the  discomforts  that  met 
her  at  every  turn  by  rhyming  these  verses  that 
have  been  found  among  her  papers  : — 

‘ Jean  batit  une  maison 
Qui  n’a  ni  rime  ni  raison  : 

L’hiver  on  y gele  tout  roide, 

L’ete  ne  la  rend  pas  froide. 

II  y oublia  I’escalier, 

Puis  le  batit  en  espalier.’ 

And  not  merely  were  Elizabeth’s  palaces  built 
in  this  way,  they  were  furnished  to  match.  The 
affectation  of  settled  furniture  was  then  an  un- 


• ■ ND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  75 

known  thing.  The  th'ngs  belonged  to  the 
person,  and  were  taken  about  from  place  to  place. 
It  was  a sort  of  survival  of  the  nomad  life  of 
the  Eastern  people.  Hangings,  carpets,  mirrors,, 
beds,  tables  and  chairs,  the  luxuries  and  the 
necessities,  followed  the  court  from  the  Winter  to 
the  Summer  Palace,  from  thence  to  Peterhof,  and 
sometimes  to  Moscow.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  some  of  these  things  got  damaged  or  lost  on 
the  way.  This  resulted  in  an  odd  mixture  of 
magnificence  and  destitution.  One  ate  off  gold 
plate  on  lopsided  tables  which  had  lost  a leg 
somewhere.  In  the  midst  of  masterpieces  of 
French  or  English  cabinet-work,  there  was 
nothing  to  sit  down  on.  In  the  home  of  the 
Tchoglokofs,  which  Catherine  inhabited  for 
some  time  at  Moscow,  she  found  no  furniture 
at  all.  Elizabeth  herself  was  often  no  better 
looked  after.  But  she  used  every  day  a cup  that 
Roumiantsof  had  brought  from  Constantinople  by 
her  order,  and  which  had  cost  8000  ducats. 

Corresponding  with  this  outward  disorder  and 
dilapidation  was  the  private  license  to  which, 
despite  the  appearance  of  extreme  pomp  and 
refined  etiquette,  the  very  dignity  of  the  throne 
abandoned  itself.  Some  idea  of  this  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  anecdote,  which  is 
told  by  Catherine  in  her  memoirs.  A little  while 
before  the  intervention  of  Bestoujef,  which  had 
brought  about  such  changes  in  the  environment 
of  Catherine  and  her  husband,  Peter  was  guilty 
of  an  action  which  may  well  have  contributed,  if 
not  to  provoke,  at  all  events  to  justify,  the  severi- 
ties of  the  chancellor,  and  to  have  determined  the 
Empress  to  approve  them.  The  room  in  which 


76 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


the  Grand  Duke  had  set  up  his  marionettes 
communicated  by  a door,  which  had  been  ciosed 
up  since  the  instaliation  of  the  young  court,  with 
one  of  the  salons  of  the  Empress.  In  this  salon 
Elizabeth  sometimes  had  iittle  private  dinners 
of  a few  persons  only.  There  was  a table  so 
arranged  that  the  presence  of  servants  could  be 
dispensed  with.  One  day  Peter  heard  a noise  in 
the  room,  the  sound  of  many  voices,  and  the 
clink  of  glasses.  He  bored  several  holes  in  the 
door  with  a gimlet,  and,  looking  through,  saw  the 
Empress  sitting  at  table  with  the  master  of  the 
hunt,  Prazoumofski,  her  favourite  of  the  moment, 
wearing  a mere  dressing-gown.  With  this 
friendly  couple  were  a dozen  of  the  courtiers. 
Peter  was  immensely  amused  by  the  sight,  and, 
not  content  with  enjoying  it  himself,  he  hastened 
to  ask  Catherine  to  take  part  in  the  amusement. 
The  Grand  Duchess,  more  prudent,  declined  the 
invitation.  She  even  warned  her  husband  of  the 
impropriety  and  danger  of  the  proceeding.  He 
paid  no  heed  to  her,  and,  in  her  place,  brought  in 
the  ladies  of  her  suite,  made  them  get  up  on 
chairs  and  footstools  in  order  to  see  better,  and 
arranged  a whole  amphitheatre  before  the  door, 
behind  which  was  exposed  the  dishonour  of  his 
benefactress.  The  incident  was  soon  found  out, 
and  Elizabeth  was  extremely  angry.  She  even 
went  so  far  as  to  remind  her  nephew  that  Peter  I. 
had  also  had  an  ungrateful  son.  It  was  a way  of 
saying  that  his  head  was  no  more  firmly  planted 
on  his  shoulders  than  was  that  of  the  unfortunate 
Alexis.  Every  one  at  the  court  soon  heard  of 
the  incident,  and  was  amused  in  turn. 

As  for  Catherine,  no  doubt  she  learnt,  if  not  a 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE 

moral  lesson,  which  may  be  doubted,  at  least  a 
lesson  in  practical  wisdom.  If  she,  in  after  days, 
had  her  favourites  in  their  dressing-gowns,  she 
took  care  not  to  be  overlooked  through  a keyhole. 
She  either  concealed  them,  or  flaunted  them 
before  the  world  in  all  the  magic  of  an  incompar- 
able niise  en  scene.  But  she  learnt  from  Eliza- 
beth, at  this  period,  other  precious  lessons.  If 
she  refused  to  violate  the  secret  of  the  private 
banquets  in  which  the  Empress  forgot  herself 
and  her  state,  she  was  assuredly  present,  just 
after  the  departure  of  the  Princess  of  Zerbst,  at 
the  state  festival  in  yearly  celebration  of  the  day 
on  which  the  daughter  of  Peter  the  Great  had 
ascended  the  throne.  In  the  great  hall  of  the 
Winter  Palace  the  tables  were  laid  for  330  under- 
officers and  soldiers  of  the  regiment  which  had 
then  accompanied  Elizabeth  in  the  conquest  of 
her  crown.  The  Empress,  in  captain’s  uniform, 
wearing  top-boots,  a sword  by  her  side,  and  a 
white  feather  in  her  cap,  took  her  place  in  the 
midst  of  her  ‘comrades.’  The  dignitaries  of  the 
court,  the  head  officers,  and  the  foreign  ministers 
were  seated  at  table  in  a neighbouring  room.  No 
doubt  it  is  from  having  seen  and  thought  over 
such  sights  in  early  life  that  Catherine  was  able, 
at  the  right  moment,  to  put  on  the  warlike  livery 
with  such  easy  grace,  and  to  win  in  her  turn  the 
enthusiasm  and  support  of  these  same  grenadiers, 
ready  themselves,  thanks  to  the  lessons  of  the 
past,  to  strike,  and  to  strike  hard. 

The  Grand  Duke,  though  more  generally 
called  elsewhere  by  his  pleasures  and  his  amours, 
was  sometimes,  for  a change,  very  attentive  to 
his  wife.  These  were  not  her  most  agreeable 


78 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


moments.  During  a whole  winter  he  spoke  to 
Catherine  of  nothing  but  his  project  of  building 
near  his  country  house  a place  of  rest  and  re- 
creation in  the  form  of  a Capuchin  monastery.  To 
please  him  she  was  forced  to  design,  over  and 
over  again,  the  plan  of  this  establishment,  which 
he  was  for  ever  altering.  Nor  was  this  the  worst 
she  had  to  put  up  with.  The  presence  of  the 
Grand  Duke  brought  with  it  other  trials,  such,  for 
example,  as  the  constant  neighbourhood  of  a pack 
of  hounds,  who  infected  the  place  with  an  intoler- 
able stench.  The  Empress  having  forbidden 
this  kind  of  amusement,  it  occurred  to  Peter  to 
hide  his  kennel  in  the  bedroom,  where  Catherine’s 
nights  soon  became  a martyrdom.  By  day  the 
barking  and  the  piercing  cries  of  the  beaten 
animals  left  her  not  a moment’s  repose.  When 
the  pack  was  quiet,  Peter  seized  his  violin  and 
walked  from  room  to  room,  merely  endeavouring 
to  make  the  greatest  possible  noise  with  the  in- 
strument. He  had  a taste  for  uproar.  He  had 
also,  from  an  early  age,  and  increasingly,  a taste 
for  drink.  From  17^'  ae  got  drunk  ‘almost 
daily.’  And  on  this  point  Elizabeth  was  un- 
'^happily,  and  for  a a obvious  reason,  unable  to 
exercise  the  needful  repression.  From  time  to 
time  the  Grand  Duke  returned  again  to  his 
marionettes.  Once  Catherine  fou^d  him  in  full 
uniform,  booted  and  spurred,  and  with  drawn 
sword,  standing  before  a rat  suspended  in  the 
middle  of  the  room.  She  found  that  there  had 
been  a military  execution ; the  unhappy  rat 
having  devoured  a paste  sentinel  placed  before 
a cardboard  fortress,  a council  of  war,  solemnly 
assembled,  had  condemned  it  to  be  put  to  death. 


THE  S ECOND  ED  UCA  TION  OF  CA  THE  FINE  79 

With  her  vigorous  youth,  and  the  ardour  of 
her  temperament,  Catherine  could  never  have 
endured  such  an  existence,  had  she  not  con- 
tracted certain  habits  capable  of  diverting  her 
by  taking  her  away  from  this  wretched  interior. 
In  summer,  during  her  stay  at  Oranienbaum,  she 
rose  at  dawn,  slipped  on  a man’s  suit,  and  started 
for  the  chase,  in  the  company  of  an  old  servant. 
‘There  was  a fishing-boat,’ she  tells  us,  ‘by  the 
shore ; we  crossed  the  garden  on  foot,  our  guns 
over  our  shoulders,  we  got  into  the  boat,  he  and 
I and  a pointer,  and  the  fisher  who  was  taking  us, 
and  I shot  at  the  wild  ducks  in  the  reeds  on  both 
sides  of  the  Oranienbaum  canal.’  Besides  the 
chase,  horsemanship  gave  occasion  for  staying 
out  of  doors.  Elizabeth  herself  was  a passionate 
horsewoman.  She  felt  obliged,  however,  at  one 
time,  to  cool  the  growing  ardour  of  Catherine  in 
this  kind  of  exercise.  With  that  taste  for  mas- 
culinity which  always  haunted  her,  the  Grand 
Duchess  liked  to  sit  astride  her  horse,  like  a 
man.  The  Czarina  fancied  she  had  discovered 
one  of  the  reasons  whici  mdered  her  from  having 
children.  Catherine  thereupon  procured  a saddle 
so  arranged  that  she  was  able  to  mount  as  if  it 
were  a side-saddle^,  and  to  regain  her  favourite 
position  as  soon  as  she  was  out  of  Elizabeth’s 
sight.  A ‘divided  skirt’  aided  her  in  this 
performance.  She  took  lessons  of  a German 
groom,  the  teacher  of  the  corps  of  cadets,  and 
by  her  rapid  progress  won  a prize  of  silver  spurs. 
She  was  also  very  fond  of  dancing.  One  evening, 
in  one  of  the  frequent  balls  with  which  Elizabeth 
enlivened  the  court,  the  Grand  Duchess  made  a 
wager  with  Mme.  Arnheim,  the  wife  of  the 


8o 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Saxon  minister,  that  she  would  not  be  the  first 
to  be  out  of  breath.  She  won  the  wager. 

-5::^  III 

It  was  in  such  distractions,  and  in  the  read- 
ing of  Bayle’s  Dictionary  and  other  less  serious 
books,  that  Catherine  was  passing  her  time,  when, 
in  1754,  a long-looked-for  event  came  to  bring  a 
great  change  into  the  monotony  of  her  life.  She 
became  a mother. 

How  did  this  come  about  ? The  question 
may  seem  strange  : yet  there  is  no  point  in  the 
whole  biography  of  Catherine  which  has  given 
rise  to  more  controversy.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  ten  years  had  elapsed  since  the 
Grand  Duchess’s  marriage,  ten  years  during 
which  her  union  with  Peter  had  remained  without 
issue,  while  the  relations  between  husband  and 
wife  had  become  more  and  more  frigid.  A letter 
of  the  Grand  Duke  to  his  wife,  published  at 
the  end  of  the  Russian  translation  of  the  memoirs 
of  Catherine,  and  belonging  to  the  year  1746, 
seems  to  indicate  thac  the  rupture  was  already 
complete.  Here  is  the  letter,  textually  : — 

‘Madame, 

Je  vous  prie  de  ne  point  vous  incommodes 
cette  nuis  de  dormir  avec  moi  car  il  n’est  plus  le  terns 
de  me  tromper,  le  lit  a dt6  trop  etroit,  apres  deux 
semaines  de  separation  de  vous  aujourd’hui  apres 
mide. 

Votre 

tres  infortune 
mari  qui  vous  ne 
daignez  jamais  de 
cc  nom. 


Peter.' 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OE  CATHERINE  8i 

At  the  same  time,  and  in  spite  of  her  re- 
tired life,  and  the  careful  watch  kept  over  her, 
Catherine  was  exposed  to  many  temptations, 
was  engaged  in  pursuits  where  her  virtue  was 
constantly  in  peril,  and  was  plunged,  so  to  speak 
(to  use  the  phrase  of  a Russian  historian),  in 
an  atmosphere  of  love.  As  she  says  in  her 
memoirs,  without  being  absolutely  pretty,  she 
was  attractive  : that  was  ‘ her  fort!  She  called 
forth  love  in  every  direction.  In  the  summer  of 
1749,  a part  of  which  was  spent  at  Raiova,  a 
property  belonging  to  the  Tchoglokofs,  she  was 
in  a state  of  mortal  dulness.  She  there  saw 
nearly  every  day  the  young  Count  Razoumofski, 
who  lived  near,  and  who  used  to  ride  over  to 
dinner  or  supper  and  back  to  his  chateau  at 
Pokrovskoie,  a distance  of  nearly  forty  miles 
each  way.  Twenty  years  later  Catherine  asked 
him  what  had  induced  him  to  come  over  every 
day  to  share  the  ennui  oi  the  Grand  Ducal  Court, 
when  at  his  own  house  he  had,  whenever  he 
pleased,  the  best  company  in  Moscow.  ‘ Love,’ 
replied  he,  without  a rnoment’s  hesitation. 
‘Love?  But  who  could  you  have  been  in  love 
with  at  Raiova?’  ‘You.’  She  laughed  aloud. 
It  had  never  occurred  to  her. 

It  was  not  always  so,  however.  Tchoglokof 
was  ugly,  Razoumofski  too  discreet.  Others 
came  forward  who  had  neither  the  defect  of  the 
one  nor  the  defect  or  merit  of  the  other.  In 
the  first  place,  one  of  the  three  exiles  of  1745, 
Zahar  Tchernichef,  reappears  at  the  court  in 
1751.  He  finds  that  Catherine  is  handsomer 
than  ever,  and  does  not  hesitate  to  tell  her  so. 
She  hears  him  with  pleasure.  He  takes  ad- 


82 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


vantage  of  a ball  at  which,  according  to  the 
custom  then  (and  until  quite  recently),  people 
exchanged  ‘ mottoes,’  little  pieces  of  paper  con- 
taining verses  more  or  less  ingeniously  turned,  to 
present  her  with  a billet-doux  full  of  passionate 
declarations.  She  enjoys  the  joke,  and  keeps 
it  up  with  the  best  grace  in  the  world.  He 
wishes  to  force  his  way  into  her  room  in  the 
guise  of  a lackey ; she  merely  points  out  the 
danger  of  the  undertaking,  and  the  correspond- 
ence by  ‘ mottoes  ’ goes  on  again.  A part  of 
this  correspondence  is  to  be  seen.  It  was  pub- 
lished anonymously,  as  a specimen  of  the  style 
employed  by  a lady  of  rank,  in  the  eighteenth 
century,  in  writing  to  her  lover.  The  contents 
seem  to  leave  no  doubt  that  it  was  not  Zahar 
Tchernichef  who  could  lay  claim  to  this  title. 

After  the  Tchernichefs  came  the  Saltykofs. 
There  were  two  brothers  of  this  name  among 
the  chamberlains  of  the  Grand  Ducal  Court. 
The  family  was  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
important  in  Russia.  The  father  was  general 
aide-de-camp  ; the  mother,  nde  Princess  Galitzine, 
had  rendered  services  to  Elizabeth  in  1740, 
about  which  the  Princess  of  Zerbst  was  particu- 
larly well  informed.  ‘ Mme.  de  Soltickof  suc- 
ceeded in  captivating  whole  families.  She  was 
Galitzine.  Further,  she  was  beautiful,  and  she 
manoeuvred  in  a way  that  ought  to  be  forgotten 
as  soon  as  possible.  She  went  with  one  of  her 
waiting-women  into  the  barracks  of  the  Guards, 
she  abandoned  herself,  she  drank,  she  gambled, 
lost,  let  them  win.  . . . She  had  for  lovers  the 
300  grenadiers  who  accompanied  her  Majesty.’ 
The  elder  of  the  two  brothers  was  not  hand- 


I 


HE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  83 

some ; or,  as  Catherine  put  it,  he  could  rival 
the  unfortunate  Tchoglokof  in  both  wit  and 
beauty.  The  younger,  Sergius,  was  ‘ beau  comme 
le  jour.’  In  1752  he  was  twenty-six  years  of 
age,  and  he  had  been  married  for  two  years  to 
a freiline  of  the  Empress,  Matrena  Pavlovna 
Balk,  a love-match.  It  was  at  this  epoch  that 
Catherine  fancied  he  was  paying  court  to  her. 
She  went  almost  every  day  to  see  Mme. 
Tchoglokof,  who,  being  in  an  interesting  con- 
dition, kept  her  room.  Always  finding  the 
handsome  Sergius  there,  she  began  to  doubt 
whether  he  came  entirely  to  see  the  mistress  of 
the  house.  It  will  be  seen  that  she  had  acquired 
some  experience.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
handsome  Sergius  explained  himself  more  de- 
finitely. The  surveillance  of  Mme.  Tchoglokof 
was  just  now  more  easy-going  than  usual.  He 
arranged  to  divert  that  of  the  husband,  who, 
himself  in  love  with  the  Grand  Duchess,  might 
be  more  troublesome.  He  pretended  to  dis- 
cover that  the  good  Tchoglokof  had  a remarkable 
talent  for  poetry.  Highly  flattered,  he  would 
retire  into  a corner  to  fill  up  bouts-rimds,  or  to 
turn  into  verse  the  themes  that  were  liberally 
supplied  to  him.  Meanwhile,  there  was  a chance 
of  uninterrupted  talk.  The  handsome  Sergius 
was  not  only  the  handsomest  man  at  the  court, 
he  was  a man  of  resources ; ‘ a demon  for  in- 
trigue,’ says  Catherine.  She  heard  his  first 
declarations  in  silence.  She  certainly  could  not 
have  thus  intended  to  discourage  him  from  going 
on.  At  last  she  asked  h"  n what  he  wanted  of 
her.  He  had  no  difficulty  in  painting,  in  the 
most  vivid  colours,  the  happiness  that  he  had 


84 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


pictured  for  himself.  ‘And  your  wife?’  said 
she.  It  was  almost  a confession,  and  it  reduced 
to  a very  fragile  obstacle  the  distance  which  still 
separated  them.  He  was  by  no  means  taken 
aback,  and  resolutely  threw  the  poor  Matrena- 
Pavlovna  overboard,  speaking  of  a youthful  error, 
declaring  that  he  had  Seen  mistaken  in  his  choice, 
and  that  ‘the  gold  had  soon  changed  into  lead.’ 
Catherine  assures  us  that  she  did  all  she  could 
to  turn  him  aside  from  his  pursuit,  even  to  the 
point  of  insinuating  that  he  had  come  too  late. 

‘ How  do  you  know  ? My  heart  may  be  already 
lost’  It  was  not  a happy  means.  The  truth 
is,  as  she  admits,  that  the  difficulty  she  had 
in  getting  rid  of  her  handsome  admirer  came 
mainly  from  herself ; she  liked  him  extremely. 
A hunt  was  organised  by  the  poet  Tchoglokof, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  occasion  so  long 
sought  by  Sergius  presented  itself.  They  were 
alone.  The  tUe-a-lHe  went  on  for  an  hour  and 
a half,  and  to  bring  it  to  an  end  Catherine 
had  to  have  recourse  to  heroic  means.  The 
scene  is  charming,  as  Catherine  describes  it  in 
her  memoirs.  Before  going,  Saltykof  would  have 
her  admit  that  he  was  not  indifferent  to  her. 
‘Yes,  yes,’  she  murmured  at  last,  ‘but  go.’ 

‘ Good,  I have  your  word,’  cried  the  young  man, 
putting  spurs  to  his  horse.  She  would  take  back 
the  fatal  word.  She  cried  after  him,  ‘No,  no!’ 
‘Yes,  yesl’  he  cried  from  the  distance.  And  so 
they  parted  ; doubtless,  to  meet  again. 

Shortly  after,  it  is  true,  Sergius  Saltykof  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  court ; indeed,  on  account  of 
the  scandal  which  his  relations  with  the  Grand 
Duchess  had  caused.  Elizabeth  severely  re- 


r • ‘ . :r  f ■ ca  tion  of  ca  therine  85 

primanded  the  I choglokofs,  and  the  handsome 
Sergius  received  a month’s  congd,  with  instruq- 
tions  to  go  and  see  his  family  in  the  country'^ 
He  fell  ill,  and  was  only  able  to  return  to  court 
in  1753,  when  he  once  more  joined  the  inner 
circle,  mainly  of  young  people,  that  had  formed 
around  Catherine,  in  which  there  was  now  another 
cavalier  of  high  rank  and  fine  bearing,  Leon 
Narychkine,  who  was  already  playing  the  part 
of  court  fool,  which  he  was  to  keep  up  through 
so  great  a part  of  the  future  reign,  but  for  the 
moment,  no  doubt,  aiming  at  something  more 
than  that.  Catherine  was  now  on  the  best  terms 
with  the  two  Tchoglokofs.  She  had  succeeded 
in  making  a friend  of  the  wife,  on  the  ground 
that  she  repelled  the  advances  of  her  husband  ; 
and  in  making  the  husband  himself  her  slave,  by 
cunningly  tantalising  him  with  expectations.  She 
thus  had  the  confidence  of  both,  and  was  able  to 
count  on  their  discretion.  Whether  from  pru- 
dence or  from  natural  inconstancy,  the  handsome 
Sergius  seemed  now  more  reserved,  so  that  by  a 
change  of  parts  it  was  now  Catherine  who  com- 
plained of  the  lack  of  his  attentions.  But  soon  a 
fresh  intervention  of  the  supreme  power,  and  this 
time  quite  unexpected,  gave  a new  turn  to  the 
second  chapter  of  the  old  romance.  The  point  is 
a little  difficult  to  explain ; it  would  be  yet  more 
difficult  to  believe,  were  it  not  for  the  testimony 
of  Catherine  herself.  This  is  the  story  she  gives 
in  her  memoirs.  At  a few  days  interval,  Sergius 
and  herself  were  summoned,  one  before  the 
chancellor  Bestoujef,  the  other  to  a confidential 
interview  with  Madame  Tchoglokof,  and  both 
received,  on  the  subject  which  occupied  them  so 


86 


CATHERINE  II  OF  RUSSIA 


closely,  hints  which  must  have  surprised  them  not 
a little.  Speaking  in  the  Empress’s  name,  the 
governor  and  guardian  of  the  Grand  Duchess’s 
virtue,  and  of  the  honour  of  her  husband,  explained 
to  the  young  woman  that  there  were  state  reasons 
which  must  override  all  other  considerations, 
even  the  legitimate  desire  of  a wife  to  remain 
faithful  to  her  husband,  if  that  husband  proved 
incapable  of  confirming  the  peace  of  the  empire 
by  ensuring  the  succession  to  the  throne.  In 
conclusion,  Catherine  was  peremptorily  ordered 
to  choose  between  Sergius  Saltykof  and  Lev 
Narychkine,  and  Madame  Tchoglokof  was  per- 
suaded that  she  preferred  the  latter,  Catherine 
protested.  ‘ Well,  then,  the  other,’  said  the  gou- 
vernanle.  Catherine  kept  silence.  Bestoujef, 
with  somewhat  more  reserve,  spoke  after  the 
same  manner  to  the  handsome  Sergius. 

In  due  course  Catherine  became  enceinte,  and 
after  two  miscarriages  gave  birth  to  a son  on  the 
20th  September  1754.  Who  was  the  father  of 
the  child  ? The  question  is  a natural  one,  and 
all  that  we  know  on  the  subject  leaves  it  still  an 
open  question.  Physically  and  morally,  especially 
morally,  Peter  resembled  his  legitimate  father. 
P'ew,  however,  of  his  contemporaries  were  will- 
ing to  admit  the  hypothesis  of  this  paternity. 
Various  suppositions  were  current  at  the  time. 
‘The  child,’  wrote  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital,  ‘is, 
they  say,  the  Empress’s  own,  which  she  has 
changed  with  the  Grand  Duchess’s.’  In  a later 
despatch,  it  is  true,  the  marquis  took  back  his 
story,  saying  that  he  had  been  better  informed  ; 
but  Elizabeth  did  much  to  give  it  credit,  and  her 
conduct  at  the  time  of  the  Grand  Duchess’s  con- 


TION  OF  CATHERINE  87 

iniciiiciu  wao  i;,iicuiar.'„d  to  lend  colour  to  the 
rumours  which  were  in  the  air.  The  child  had 
no  sooner  been  born,  and  thereupon  summarily 
baptized,  than  the  Czarina  ordered  him  to  be 
taken  away,  and  disappeared  after  him.  Catherine 
did  not  see  her  child  again  for  six  weeks.  She 
was  left  alone  with  her  chambermaid,  without 
even  the  necessary  attentions  which  her  situation 
demanded.  The  bed  on  which  she  had  been 
delivered  was  placed  between  a door  and  two 
enormous  windows,  through  which  a cutting 
draught  entered.  As  she  was  in  a constant  per- 
spiration, she  wished  to  return  to  her  ordinary 
bed.  La  Vladislavova  dared  not  take  upon 
herself  to  grant  this  request.  Catherine  wanted 
something  to  drink.  The  answer  was  the  same. 
At  last,  after  three  hours,  the  Countess  Chouvalof 
came  on  the  scene,  and  gave  her  some  assistance. 
That  was  all.  She  saw  no  one  else  either  that 
day  or  the  following.  The  Grand  Duke  was 
feasting  with  his  friends  in  a neighbouring  room. 
After  the  solemn  baptism  of  the  child,  the  mother 
received,  on  a plate  of  gold,  as  a sort  of  recom- 
pense for  her  trouble,  a ukase  of  the  Empress, 
presenting  her  with  100,000  roubles  and  some 
trinkets.  The  trinkets  were  so  valueless  that 
Catherine  tells  us  she  would  have  been  ashamed 
to  give  them  to  one  of  her  women.  She  was 
glad  of  the  money,  for  she  had  now  a good  many 
debts.  Her  joy  was  of  short  duration.  A few 
days  afterwards  Baron  Tcherkassof,  the  Empress’s 
treasurer,  ‘ the  Cabinet  Secretary,’  according  to 
the  official  designation,  came  to  beg  back  the 
amount.  The  Empress  had  given  a second 
order  of  payment  for  the  same  amount,  and  there 


88  CATHERINE  II.  OF  4 

was  not  a kopeck  in  tit  ' trea  ^ Catherine 

knew  very  well  that  it  was  a trie!  her  husband. 

Peter  had  been  very  angry  on  ring  that  she 
had  received  100,000  roubles,  v ; he  had  had 
nothing,  he  who  had  at  least  jal  rights,  it 
seemed  to  him,  to  the  imperial  iificence.  To 

calm  him,  Elizabeth,  to  whon  ^natures  cost 

nothing,  had  made  another  land  on  her 
treasury,  without  a thought  of  , difficulty  of 

her  treasurer.  At  the  end  c ; x weeks  the 

‘purification’  of  the  Grand  D I-  ;ss  was  cele- 
brated with  great  pomp,  and  = this  occasion 
she  was  allowed  to  see  her  chi'  ' She  admired 
it.  She  was  allowed  to  hold  it  ing  the  cere- 
mony ; then  it  was  again  takr  way.  At  the 

same  time  she  learnt  that  Sen  Saltykof  had 
been  sent  to  Sweden  with  the  news  of  the  little 
Grand  Duke’s  birth.  At  that  time,  for  a noble- 
man occupying  his  position  at  the  court  of 
Russia,  a change  of  place  of  this  kind  was  rarely 
a favour.  For  the  most  part  it  was  the  applica- 
tion of  a sort  of  judicial  measure,  even  when  it 
was  not  an  actual  punishment.  From  this  point 
of  view,  the  departure  of  the  young  chamberlain 
was  not  without  its  significance, 
k...  We  shall  not  insist  further.  This  historical 
question,  turning  as  it  does  on  a disputed  pater- 
/ nity,  has,  to  our  thinking,  we  must  admit,  a very 
secondary  importance.  So  far  as  Catherine  is 
concerned,  the  only  really  important  point  in  the 
history  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  development  _ 
of  her  personality — which  is  what  we  are  study- 
ing— is  the  uncontested  and  incontestable  pre-_ 
sence  of  the  handsome  Sergius  beside  the  cradle_ 
of  her  first  child,  with  Lev  Narychkine,  Zahar 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  89 


Tchernichef,  and  perhaps  others  in  the  back- 
ground. And  there  is  also  this  kind  of  incomplete 
maternity  of  hers,  outrageously  suspected  by 
public  rumour,  cruelly  curtailed  by  an  abuse  of 
power  which  is  almost  a violence,  and  in  which 
something  equivocal  seems  to  hide  under  the 
cloak  of  etiquette,  so  counter  to  the  most 
natural  rights  and  functions.  There  is,  too,  the 
isolation  and  abandonment,  now  more  profound 
and  sorrowful  than  ever,  into  which  the  young 
wife  and  mother  sinks,  between  the  empty  cradle 
and  the  long  deseed  jiiuPtial  couch. 


IV 


If  Catherine  had  been  a vulgar,  or  even  an 
ordinary,  woman,  the  existence  in  which  she  was 
thus  placed  would  doubtless  have  served  to  add 
one  or  many  chapters  to  the  chronique  galante  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  Sergius  Saltykof  would 
have  had  a s4^essor,  the  Grand  Duke  new 
motives  to  doubt  the  virtue  of  his  wife  ; but  that 
would  have  beerl  dllftl  Catherine  was  not  an  ordi- 
nary woman ; she  Ij^as'  superabundantly  proved 
it.  Nor  was  she  one  of  those  who  make  the 
martyrs  of  the  domestic  hearth.-  She  replaced 
the  handsome  Sergius ; she  entered  definitely, 
blindly,  on  a path  which  was  to  lead  to  the 
most  colossal  and  the  most  cynical  display  of 
imperial  licence  known  to  modern  history ; but 
she  did  not  allow  herself  to  become  absorbed  in 
it.  In  abandoning  herself,  her  honour,  and  her 
virtue  to  ever-new  distractions,  to  pleasures  fol- 
lowed with  an  ever-increasing  ardour,  she  never 

meanly  forgot  her  rank,  her  ambition,  and  the 
7 


9® 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


supremacy  that  a near  future  was  to  signalise. 
On  the  contrary,  she  drew  herself  together,  she 
fell  back  upon  her  own  resources,  and  carried  yet 
further  forward  her  self-culture,  that  adaptation 
of  her  mind  and  character  to  a vaguely-realised 
destiny,  of  which  we  have  indicated  the  com- 
mencement. 

It  is  at  this  moment  that  we  see  her  more 
actively  absorbed  than  ever  in  the  study  of  the 
Russian  language  and  literature.  She  reads  all 
the  Russian  books  that  she  can  lay  her  hands  on. 
They  do  not  give  her  the  idea  of  a very  high 
intellectual  level.  She  is  unaWe  afterwards  to 
remember  the  name  of  any  of  these  books,  except 
a Russian  translation  in  two  volumes  of  the 
Annals  of  Baronius.  But  she  obtains  from  her 
reading  a conviction  destined  never  to  leave  her, 
a conviction  which  is  to  imprint  a definite  stamp 
upon  her  future  reign,  ^nd  to  make  it  a sort  of 
continuation  of  that  bf  Peter  the  Great : her 
adopted  country’s  absolute  necessity  of  taking 
pattern  from  the  West,  in  order  to  raise  itself  to  the 
height  of  its  newly-acquired  position  in  Europe. 

At  the  same  time  she  gives  herself  seriously  to 
the  study  of  serious  books.  Despite  the  recom- 


^ mendation  of  Count  Gyllemborg,  and  the  atten- 
tion she  had  paid  to  it,  she  had  not  read  the 
Considerations  sur  la  Grandeur  et  la  Decadence  des 
Romains.  She  now  makes  the  acquaintance  of 
Montesquieu,  reading  V Esprit  des  Lois,  which  is 
only  laid  aside  for  the  Annals  of  Tacitus  and  the 
Histoire  Universelle,  as  she  calls  it,  which,  no 
doubt,  means  the  Essai  sur  les  Moeurs  et  I' Esprit 
des  Nations  of  Voltaire. 

Tacitus  impresses  her  by  the  vivid  reality  of 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  91 

his  pictures,  and  by  the  striking’  analogy  which 
she  finds  in  them  with  the  men  and  things  around 
her.  Across  all  the  space  of  time  and  circum- 
stance she  perceives  the  unchangeable  identity  of 
certain  types  which  compose  human  nature,  and 
certain  laws  which  it  obeys.  She  sees  the  re- 
production of  the  same  traits  of  character,  the 
same  instincts,  the  same  passions,  the  same  com- 
binations of  interests,  and  the  same  formulas  of 
government,  reproducing  the  same  consequences. 
She  learns  to  disentangle  the  play  of  elements 
so  differently  associated,  and  yet  unvarying ; to 
penetrate  their  inner  mechanism  and  appreciate 
their  true  value.  Her  hard  and  dry  mind — the 
philosophical  mind  with  which  the  Swedish  diplo- 
matist credited  her-^'finds  itself  singularly  at 
home  with  the  abstract,  detached,  impersonal 
manner  of  judging  of  events  and  their  causes 
peculiar  to  the  Latin  historian ; his  way  of  soar- 
ing above  humanity,  which  he  seems  to  observe 
as  a disinterested  spectator,  having  himself  other 
claims  on  existence. 

It  is,  however,  Montesquieu  who  attracts  and 
satisfies  her  the  most.  He  does  not  confine  him- 
self to  presenting  the  facts,  he  theorises  upon 
them.  He  provides  her  with  formulas  read}- 
made,  which  she  appropriates  with  ardour.  She 
makes  them  her  Breviary,  to  use  her  own  pic- 
turesque expression.  She  declares  later  that  this 
book,  L' Esprit  des  Lois,  ought  to  be  ‘ the 
Breviary  of  every  sovereign  of  common  sense.’ 
This  is  not  to  say  that  she  understands  it. 
Montesquieu  was  probably,  during  a good  hall 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  most  widely  read, 
and  the  least  understood,  man  in  Europe.  No 


92  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

doubt  Catherine  and  others  found  in  him  a good 
store  of  ideas  and  theories,  which  they  were 
ready  to  apply  in  an  isolated  manner.  As  for 
appropriating  the  doctrine  as  a whole,  in  its  true 
spirit,  few  indeed  were  capable  of  that.  And  as 
for  applying  it  en  bloc,  to  use  a modern  phrase, 
that  occurred  to  no  one.  As  a matter  of  fact  it 
would  have  led,  and  the  author  of  L' Esprit  des 
Lois  was  probably  himself  far  from  realising  it, 
to  an  utter  upset  of  the  political  and  social  regime 
of  the  time,  and  to  a revolution  more  radical  than 
that  which  the  end  of  the  century  saw  accom- 
plished. What  this  doctrine  attacked  was  the 
principle  itself  of  the  vices  which  he  analysed, 
the  abuses  w'hich  he  pointed  out,  the  catastrophes 
which  he  foresaw,  in  the  constitution  of  human 
societies.  Now,  to  suppress  this  principle  was 
not  merely  to  overturn  such  and  such  an  institu- 
tion or  manner  of  government,  nor  even,  nor 
mainly,  such  and  such  a government  itself,  it  was 
to  set  aside  the  great  idea  which  governed  the 
world,  and  which  is  perhaps  to  govern  it  for 
ever ; it  was  to  substitute  an  ideal,  and  perhaps 
unrealisable,  equilibrium  of  natural  forces  for  the 
sharp,  constant  battle  of  interests  and  passions 
which  has  for  all  time  constituted  human  life, 
which  is  perhaps  life  itself. 

Of  all  c.  -t  Catherine  is  still  unaware.  But 
she  has  pieased  to  attribute  to  herself  a ‘ re- 
publican soul,’  after  the  fashion  of  Montesquieu, 
without  too  closely  considering  what  that  meant 
in  the  thought  of  the  illustrious  author,  without 
caring  too  much  what  it  meant  in  hers.  The 
idea  pleased  her  as  it  pleased  so  many  ; she 
adopted  it  as  she  might  have  done  a feather  or 


SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  93 

wer  in  fashion.  A certain  prepossession 
the  abuse  of  despotism,  the  admitted 
cessity  of  substituting,  in  the  conduct  of  men 
tTnd  things,  the  counsels  of  universal  reason  for 
the  inspirations  of  individual  caprice ; there  was  a 
vague  liberalism  in  that,  no  doubt.  Catherine 
was  one  day  to  astonish  the  world  by  the  revolu- 
tionary boldness  of  certain  maxims  flung  in  the 
face  of  Europe  in  an  official  document.  She  had 
copied  them  out  of  Montesquieu  and  Beccaria, 
but  without  understanding  them.  When  their, 
meaning  was  revealed  to  her  in  their  passage 
from  theory  to  practice,  no  doubt  she  was  taken 
by  surprise.  But  she  continued  to  govern  in  a 
reasonable,  and  even,  to  a certain  point,  liberal, 
way.  Montesquieu  had  done  his  work. 

What  she  is  prompt  in  understanding,  with 
the  reflective  mind  and  the  infallible  good  sense 
with  which  nature  has  endowed  her,  is  that  there 
is  a flagrant  contradiction,  apparently  inevitable, 
between  the  hatred  of  despotism  and  the  state 
of  a despot.  This  established,  fact  must  certainly 
clash  with  the  overbearing  instipcts  that  are 
already  at  work  in  her.  It  will  one  day  set 
her  at  variance  with  her  pHilosopEy,  or  at  all 
events  with  certain  philosophers..  Meanwhile, 
some  one  is  fpund  to  prove  to  her  that  what 
"she  fears  is  vain,'  anT  this,  too,  is  a philosopher, 
Voltaire.  D.oubtTess  the  introduction  ^price 
in  the  sway  of  human  destinies  is  a fault,  and 
may  become  a crime ; doubtless  it  is  reason 
that  should  govern  the  world,  but^till  there 
must  be  some  one  to  act  as  its  representative 
here  below.  This  once  granted,  the  formula 
is  seen  at  once : the  despotic  government  may 


94 


CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 


be  the  best  sort  of  government  possible  ; 
indeed  the  best,  if  it  be  reasonable.  To 
end  it  must  be  enlightened.  All  the  politi 
doctrine  of  the  author  of  the  Dictionna.. 
Philosophique  lies  in  that,  and  also  the  explana- 
tion of  his  admiration,  undoubtedly  sincere,  for 
the  Semiramis  of  the  North.  Catherine  has 
realised  this  formula : she  is  enlightened  by  ■ 
philosophy,  by  that  of  Voltaire  in  especial ; she 
governs  reasonably,  she  is  reason  itself,  set  over 
the  direction  of  forty  millions  of  men ; she  is 
a divinity,  the  prototype  of  those  that  an  odd 
deviation  of  intelligence  and  a grotesque  freak 
of  imagination  were  to  instal  over  the  altars 
profaned  by  the  orgy  of  revolution. 

It  is  thus  that  Voltaire  becomes  the  favourite 
author  of  Catherine,  This  time  she  has  found 
her  man,  the  master  par  excellence,  the  supreme 
director  of  her  conscience  and  her  thought.  He 
instructs  without  alarming  her,  accommodating 
the  ideas  that  he  gives  her  with  the  passions 
that  she  has.  With  that,  he  possesses,  for  all 
the  ills  of  humanity,  which  he  points  out  with 
Montesquieu,  which  he  deplores  with  him,  a 
number  of  simple  remedies,  within  easy  reach, 
and  of  easy  application.  Montesquieu  is  a great 
scientist  working  on  broad  lines.  According  to 
him,  it  would  be  needful  to  begin  at  the  begin- 
ning and  change  everything.  Voltaire  is  an 
empiric  of  genius.  He  takes  one  by  one  the 
sores  that  he  discovers  on  the  human  body, 
and  professes  to  heal  them.  An  ointment  here, 
a cautery  there,  and  all  will  be  gone,  the  sick 
man  will  be  well.  And  what  clearness  of  lan- 
guage, what  limpidity  of  thought,  with  what 


THE  SECOND  EDUCATION  OF  CATHERINE  95 

wit ! Catherine,  like  most  of  her  contem- 
poraries, is  charmed,  dazzled,  fascinated,  by  this 
great  magician  of  the  art  of  writing,  knd,  like 
them,  by  his  defects  as  much  as  by  his  qualities, 
more  perhaps ; by  what  there  is  of  superficiality 
in  his  vision  of  things,  of  childishness  some- 
times in  his  conceptions,  of  injustice  often  in 
his  judgments,  and  especially  by  the  licentious, 
irreligious,  and  irreverent  side  of  his  attacks 
on  established  beliefs,  for  which  the  philo- 
sophical tendencies  of  the  time,  and  the  need  of 
liberty,  then  agitating  the  minds  of  men,  were 
not  alone  accountable.  If  Voltaire  did  not  aid 
Catherine  to  exchange  the  Lutheran  religion 
for  the  orthodox  faith,  he  did  much  at  all 
events  to  allay  the  memory  of  this  doubtful 
step,  and  to  save  her,  if  not  a remorse,  at  least 
some  uneasiness  of  mind,  at  the  same  time  that 
he  set  her  at  ease  in  regard  to  certain  other 
transactions,  which  could  not  harmonise  with 
the  rigid  morals  of  any  catechism,  Greek  or 
Lutheran.  Essentially  intellectual  as  was  the 
immorality  of  the  author  of  La  Pucelle,  it  lent 
itself  also  to  other  interpretations,  which  might 
justify  every  sort  of  liberty,  including  that  of  con- 
temporary morals.  For  that  too  Voltaire  was 
popular,  and  for  that  he  was  liked  by  Catherine. 

No  doubt  also  he  took  hold  on  her  by  other 
nobler  parts  of  his  genius,  by  the  humanitarian 
ideas  which  made  him  the  apostle  of  religious 
tolerance,  by  the  generous  outbursts  which  forced 
all  Europe  to  applaud  in  him  the  defender  of 
Galas  and  Sirven.  Catherine  certainly  owed 
him  some  of  her  best  inspirations. 

But  to  him,  as  to  Montesquieu  and  Tacitus,  ih 


96  CATHERINE  n.  OF  RUSSIA 

she  owed  especially,  at  this  period,  a certain 
intellectual  gymnastic,  a certain  flexibility  in 
the  handling  of  great  political  and  social  pro- 
blems, a sort  of  general  preparation,  in  short, 
for  her  future  work. 

And  at  the  same  time,  with  the  rapid  ripening 
of  her  intelligence  in  its  contact  with  these  great 
minds,  and  the  corresponding  development  of 
her  practical  qualities,  she  acquires  new  tastes 
and  habits  which  bring  with  them  other  benefits. 
She  begins  to  find  pleasure  in  the  society  of 
some  of  those  serious  personages  who  had 
frightened  her  in  her  childhood.  She  seeks 
the  company  of  certain  old  women,  far  from 
being  in  favour  at  a court  such  as  Elizabeth’s, 
and  she  holds  long  conversations  with  them. 
She  thus  makes  progress  in  the  Russian  lan- 
guage ; she  follows  up  the  information  she  has 
derived  from  la  Vladislavova  as  to  the  ins 
and  outs  of  a society  that  she  desires  to  know 
so  intimately.  She  gains,  too,  many  a friend 
and  ally,  destined  one  day  to  be  of  the  greatest 
service. 

Thus  was  the  second  education  of  Catherine 
brought  about. 


BOOK  II 

IN  PURSUIT  OF  POWER 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  YOUNG  COURT 

I 

After  having  given  birth  to  the  heir  to  the 
throne,  Catherine  had  not  merely  to  endure 
the  singular  treatment  that  we  have  recorded, 
she  found  herself,  by  the  very  fact  of  this  birth, 
relegated  to  the  second  place.  She  was  still 
a person  of  high  rank,  but  of  great  show  rather 
than  of  great  importance.  She,  had  ceased  to 
be  the  sine  qtid  non  of  the  dynastic  programme, 
the  necessary  being  on  whom  were  fixed  the 
eyes  of  all  the  world,  from  the  Empress  to  the 
humblest  subject  of  the  empire,  all  waiting  for 
the  great  event.  She  had  accomplished  her  task. 

It  was,  nevertheless,  not  long  after  this  decisive 
event  that  she  came,  little  by  little,  to  assume 
a role  such  as  no  Grand  Duchess  had  ever 
played  before,  or  was  ever  to  play  again,  in 
Russia.  What  this  so-called  ‘ young  court’  was, 
that  of  Peter  and  Catherine,  during  a period  of 
six  years,  from  1755  to  January  5,  1762,  the 
day  of  Elizabeth’s  death,  nothing  in  the  history 


98  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

of  any  other  country,  or  of  Russia  it  ielf  at  any 
other  time,  can  give  an  idea.  At  certain 
moments  the  diplomatists  sent  to  5t.  Peters- 
burg were  embarrassed  to  know  to  whom  they 
should  address  themselves  ; some,  among  others 
Hanbury  Williams,  the  English  ambassador, 
did  not  hesitate  to  knock  at  the  lesser  door. 

A detailed  account  of  this  epoch  would  take 
us  beyond  our  limits.  We  will  indicate  only 
its  most  salient  features,  namely,  the  entrance 
of  Catherine  into  the  political  arena,  her  liaison 
with  Poniatowski,  and  the  violent  crisis  brought 
about  by  the  fall  of  the  all-powerful  Bestoujef, 
in  the  course  of  which  the  future  Empress 
played  her  first  game  on  the  ground  of  her 
future  triumphs,  and  gained  her  first  victory. 

It  was  love  that  brought  Catherine  into  the 
domain  of  politics.  She  was  destined  to  per- 
petually mingle  these  two  elements,  so  divergent 
in  appearance  ; and  it  was  her  art,  or  her  good 
fortune,  to  almost  always  obtain  a good  result 
from  a mixture  which  was  so  often  unlucky  to 
others.  Her  first  escape  from  the  narrow  limits 
within  which  Elizabeth  had  tried  to  keep  her 
for  ever  was  an  intervention  in  the  affairs  of 
Poland.  Now  it  certainly  did  not  occur  to  her 
to  interest  herself  in  these  affairs  until  she  had 
become  interested  in  those  of  a certain  handsome 
Pole.  And  she  had  to  be  helped  even  to  this 
discovery. 

In  1755  a new  ambassador  came  to  St.  Peters- 
burg from  England,  then  desirous  of  renewing 
the  treaty  of  subsidies  which,  since  1742,  had 
included  Russia  in  its  system  of  alliances,  anxious 
also  to  make  sure  of  the  support  of  the  Russian 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


99 


forces  in  the  event  of  a rupture  with  France. 
Guy  Dickens,  the  then  ambassador,  found  him- 
self at  a loss  in  so  bustling  a court  as  Elizabeth’s, 
where  a state  question  was  settled  between  a 
ball,  a play,  and  a masquerade.  At  his  own  wish, 
a new  man  was  found,  more  fitted  to  cope  with 
the  difficulties  of  the  post.  This  was  Sir  Charles 
Hanbury  Williams,  a happy  choice,  for  the  friend 
and  boon-companion  of  Robert  Walpole  had  been 
trained  in  a good  school,  and  he  never  missed  a 
ball  or  a masquerade.  He  was  not  long,  how- 
ever, in  finding  that  he  was  after  all  no  further 
forward.  His  attentions  to  Elizabeth  seemed  to 
be  quite  agreeable  to  her,  but,  politically  speaking, 
were  of  no  avail.  Whenever  he  tried  to  get  on 
the  positive  ground  of  no  matter  what  negotia- 
tion, the  Czarina  evaded  the  question.  Where 
he  would  find  an  Empress,  he  found  no  more 
than  an  amiable  dancer  of  the  minuet,  and  some- 
times a Bacchante.  At  the  end  of  a few  months 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  Elizabeth  was  not 
a woman  with  whom  one  could  have  any  serious 
talk,  and  he  decided  to  look  elsewhere.  Foiled 
by  the  present  he  looked  to  the  future.  The 
future  was  the  young  court. 

But  there  again  he  was  repelled  by  the  aspect 
of  the  future  Emperor.  It  seemed  to  him  at  first 
that  he  would  lose  his  time  as  he  had  done  before. 
But  he  was  clear-sighted,  like  his  countrymen, 
and  his  eyes  fell  upon  Catherine.  Perhaps  he 
felt  the  current  of  other  hopes  and  other  decep- 
tions setting  in  the  same  direction.  Was  not 
the  great  Bestoujef  himself  beginning  to  recant 
his  early  beliefs  ? Williams  could  not  but  see  the 
significant  advances,  the  disguised  approaches, 


lOO 


CATHERINE  IL  OF  RUSSIA 


that  were  being  made  to  the  Grand  Duchess. 
He  was  prompt  in  decision.  He  had  heard  the 
rumours  of  certain  adventures  in  which  the  hand- 
some Saltykof  and  the  handsome  Tchernichef 
had  figured,  and,  adventurous  himself  in  his 
way,  might  he  not  himself,  for  a moment,  have 
tried  to  follow  on  this  romantic  trail  ? At  all 
events  he  did  not  waste  time  over  it.  Catherine 
made  him  welcome,  talked  with  him  on  any 
subject,  even  serious  subjects,  which  Elizabeth 
would  not  hear  of ; but  she  looked  elsewhere. 
He  followed  the  look,  and,  being  a practical  man, 
he  at  once  chose  his  part.  He  left  the  way  open 
to  a young  man  in  his  suite.  It  was  Poniatov,rski. 
> The  obscure  origin  of  this  romantic  hero,  whom 
an  unhappy  chance,  a chance  fatal  to  Poland,  had 
thus  brought  into  the  history  of  his  country,  was 
well  known;  Williams,  who  before  coming  to 
Russia  had  for  some  years  been  minister  at  the 
Court  of  Saxony,  had  there  met  with  Ponia- 
towski,  the  son  of  a parvenu,  and  the  nephew 
of  two  of  the  most  powerful  Polish  noblemen,  the 
Czartoryskis.  He  interested  himself  in  him,  and 
offered  to  begin  his  political  education  by  taking 
him  to  St.  Petersburg.  The  Czartoryskis,  on 
their  side,  were  glad  to  seize  the  occasion  of  thus 
defending,  at  the  Russian  court,  both  their  own 
interests,  and,  as  they  understood  them,  the  in- 
terests of  their  country.  They  were  just  setting 
on  foot  in  Poland  a new  political  movement,  one 
of  compromise  and  of  cordial  understanding  with 
the  hereditary  enemy,  Russia,  and  of  desertion 
of  the  traditional  allies  of  the  republic,  France 
in  particular.  They  turned  their  back  on  the 
West,  and  made  head  for  the  North,  hoping  to 


THE  YOUNG  COURT  loi 

find  a port  of  refuge  for  the  unhappy  vessel, 
shattered  by  the  tempest,  and  leaking  in  every 
timber,  of  which  they  professed  to  be  the  pilots. 
This  scheme  was  precisely  in  accord  with  that 
which  Williams  himself  wished  to  further. 

The  future  King  of  Poland  was  then  twenty- 
two.  Pleasant  to  look  at,  he  could  not  rival 
Sergius  Saltykof  in  beauty,  but  he  was  an 
accomplished  gentleman  of  the  period ; with  his 
varied  acquirements,  refined  manners,  cosmo- 
politan education,  and  superficial  tincture  of 
philosophy,  he  was  an  accomplished  specimen  of 
the  kind,  and  the  first  that  had  come  before  the 
notice  of  Catherine.  He  personified  to  her  that 
mental  culture  and  worldly  polish  of  which  the 
writings  of  Voltaire  and  of  Mme.  de  Sevigne 
had  given  her  a notion  and  a taste.  He  had 
travelled,  and  at  Paris  he  had  belonged  to  that 
brilliant  society  w'hose  charm  and  glitter  had 
taken  the  admiration  of  all  Europe,  a very 
royalty,  and  less  contested  than  every  other. 
He  was  in  some  sort  an  emanation  of  it,  and  had 
both  its  merits  and  its  defects.  He  could  talk 
playfully  on  the  most  abstract  questions,  and 
touch  lightly  on  the  most  risky  subjects.  He 
knew  how  to  turn  a love-letter  gracefully,  and 
to  manipulate  a commonplace  into  a madrigal. 
He  had  sensibility,  and  he  knew  the  melting 
mood.  He  had  a stock  of  romantic  ideas,  which 
could  give  him  on  occasion  an  adventurous  and 
heroic  air,  hiding  away,  as  under  flowers,  a 
cold  dry  nature,  an  imperturbable  egoism,  a 
very  depth  of  cynicism.  He  united  all  the 
qualities  likely  to  take  her  heart,  even  to  a 
certain  frivolity,  always  so  attractive  to  her. 


102  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

perhaps  by  a mysterious  affinity  with  her  own 
firm  and  stable  nature. 

On  his  own  account,  Poniatowski  had  a further 
merit,  strange  enough,  almost  incredible,  in  a 
young  man  just  come  from  Paris.  ‘A  severe 
education,’  he  tells  us  in  an  autobiographical  frag- 
ment which  has  reached  us,  ‘ had  kept  me  out  of 
all  vulgar  debauchery ; an  ambition  of  winning 
and  holding  a place  in  what  is  called,  especially 
at  Paris,  high  life,  had  stood  by  me  in  my  travels, 
and  a concourse  of  singular  little  circumstances 
in  the  liaisons  that  I had  barely  entered  upon  in 
foreign  countries,  in  my  own,  and  in  Russia,  had 
seemed  expressly  to  reserve  me  all  in  all  for  her 
who  has  disposed  of  all  my  destiny.’ 

Bestoujef,  too,  encouraged  the  young  Pole,  who, 
however,  showed  a certain  distrust  in  the  matter. 
He  had  heard  gloomy  tales  of  what  had  happened 
to  young  men  who  had  pleased  Empresses  and 
Grand  Duchesses  of  Russia,  after  they  had 
ceased  to  please.  Bestoujef  had  recourse  to  Lev 
■^Narychkine,  who  generously  consented  to  show 
the  new  favourite  the  road  that  he  no  doubt  knew 
well.  Narychkine  was  always  the  most  accom- 
modating of  men.  But  it  was  probably  Catherine 
herself  who  bore  down  the  last  resistances.  Her 
beauty  alone,  had  there  been  no  other  attraction, 
would  have  sufficed.  This  is  how  the  favoured 
lover  afterwards  described  it : — 

‘ She  was  five-and-  twenty  ; she  had  not  long 
recovered  from  her  first  childbed ; she  was  at 
that  perfect  moment,  which  is  generally,  for 
women  who  have  beauty,  the  most  beautiful. 
With  her  black  hair,  she  had  a dazzling  whiteness 
of  skin,  the  colour  [sic]  of  the  eyeljds  black  and 


THE  YOUNG  COURT  103 

very  long,  a Grecian  nose,  a mouth  that  seemed 
made  for  kisses,  hands  and  arms  perfect,  a slim 
figure,  rather  tall  than  short,  an  extremely  active 
bearing,  and  nevertheless  full  of  nobility,  the 
sound  of  her  voice  agreeable  and  her  laugh  as 
gay  as  her  humour,  which  caused  her  to  pass 
with  facility  from  the  most  sportive,  the  most 
childish  amusements,  to  the  driest  mathematical 
calculation.’ 

Gazing  at  her,  ‘ he  forgot,’  said  he,  ‘ that  there 
was  a Siberia.’  And  soon  those  about  the 
Grand  Duchess  were  the  spectators  of  a scene 
which  went  far  to  settle  the  floating  conjectures. 
Count  Horn,  a Swede  who  was  on  a visit  to 
St.  Petersburg,  and  a friend  of  Poniatowski,  was 
in  the  ‘set  ’ of  the  Grand  Duchess.  One  day,  as 
he  entered  the  room,  a little  Bolognese  dog 
belonging  to  her  began  to  bark  furiously.  It 
did  the  same  to  all  the  other  visitors,  until  at 
last  Poniatowski  appeared,  and  the  little  traitor 
rushed  up  to  him  with  an  air  of  the  greatest 
delight,  and  with  all  the  tender  demonstrations 
in  the  world. 

‘ My  friend,’  said  the  Swede,  taking  the  new- 
comer aside,  ‘there  is  nothing  so  terrible  as  a 
little  Bolognese  dog ; the  first  thing  I have 
always  done  with  the  women  I was  in  love  with 
is  to  give  them  one,  and  I have  always  found 
out  by  their  means  if  there  was  any  one  more 
favoured  than  I.’ 

Sergius  Saltykof,  on  his  return  from  Sweden, 
was  not  long  in  finding  out  that  he  had  a suc- 
cessor. But  he  had  no  inclination  to  be  jealous. 
If,  later  on,  Catherine  was  not  particularly  con- 
stant to  her  lovers,  it  was  certainly  the  lovers  them- 


104  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

selves  who  first  set  her  the  example.  Even  before 
Poniatowski  was  in  favour,  Saltykof  carried  his  in- 
solence to  the  point  of  giving  rendezvous  which 
he  did  not  keep.  One  night  Catherine  waited 
for  him  in  vain  till  three  o’clock  in  the  morning. 

Williams  had  thus  at  his  disposition,  with 
regard  to  the  Grand  Duchess,  a powerful  in- 
fluence. He  did  not,  how'ever,  neglect  other 
means.  He  had  soon  discovered  the  money 
difficulties  in  which  Catherine  was  desperately 
entangled.  In  this  matter  the  remonstrances  of 
Elizabeth  had  been  of  no  avail.  Despite  her 
love  of  order,  and  even  certain  bourgeois  habits  of 
economy,  Catherine  was  all  her  life  a spendthrift. 
Her  taste  for  display  carried  all  before  it,  and 
also  her  way  of  considering  the  utility  of  certain 
/outlays  that  the  mercenary  spirit  of  her  native 
/ country  had  implanted  in  her  mind,  and  that  the 
experience  acquired  in  her  new  surroundings  had 
only  developed.  Faith  in  the  sovereign  efficacy 
of  the  ‘ tip  ’ was  one  of  the  beliefs  to  which  she 
remained  most  faithful.  Williams  offered  his 
services,  which  were  gladly  accepted.  The  total 
amount  borrowed  by  Catherine  from  this  source 
is  unknown.  It  must  have  been  considerable. 
Williams  had  carte  blanche  from  his  government. 
Two  receipts,  signed  by  the  Grand  Duchess,  for 
a sum-total  of  50,000  roubles,  bear  date  July  21 
and  November  ii,  1756,  and  the  loan  of  July  2i 
was  not  the  first,  for,  in  asking  for  it,  Catherine 
writes  to  Williams’s  banker  : ‘ I have  some  hesita- 
tion in  coming  to  you  again.' 

It  only  remained  for  the  English  ambassador 
to  put  to  profit  the  influence  thus  acquired  ; and 
the  reconciliation  that  had  come  about  between 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


105 


the  Grand  Duchess  and  Bestoujef  seemed  of 
good  augury. 

II 

Bestoujef  had  triumphed  successively  over  all 
his  enemies,  but  these  victories,  in  which  he  had 
put  forth  all  his  strength,  had  exhausted  him. 
He  was  growing  old,  and  he  felt  less  and  less 
able  to  cope  with  the  incessant  attacks  of  rival 
ambitions,  of  old  grudges,  of  old  thirsts  for 
revenge.  Elizabeth  herself  did  not  forgive  him 
for  having,  in  some  sort,  imposed  himself  upon 
her.  She  began  to  treat  him  with  coldness. 
She  began  also  to  suffer  from  attacks  of  apoplexy, 
and  that  gave  the  chancellor  food  for  reflection. 
The  Grand  Duke,  the  Emperor  of  to-morrow, 
showed  him  the  same  discouraging  aspect  which 
had  daunted  Williams.  Not  that  he  imagined 
it  would  be  very  difficult  to  get  into  his  favour ; 
it  would  be  easy  enough,  but  it  would  lead  to 
nothing,  or  rather,  it  would  lead  only  where 
Bestoujef  absolutely  would  not  go.  If  Peter  had 
a political  idea  in  his  narrow  brain,  it  was  his 
admiration  for  Frederick.  He  was  Prussian 
from  head  to  foot.  Bestoujef  was,  had  been,  and 
meant  to  die,  a good  Austrian.  There  was  still 
the  Grand  Duchess.  From  the  year  1754  the 
idea  of  a direct  understanding  with  her  seems  to 
have  been  in  the  chancellor’s  mind. 

The  progress  of  this  evolution  was  rapid. 
Catherine  soon  saw  a considerable  change,  and 
one  entirely  to  her  advantage,  in  the  organisation 
of  the  staff  charged  with  the  service  and  the 
surveillance  of  her  person.  Her  head  chamber- 
maid, la  Vladislavova,  a sort  of  feminine  Cer- 
8 


io6  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

berus,  became  all  at  once  as  meek  as  a lambj 
after  a confidential  interview  with  the  chancellor. 
Not  long  after,  Bestoujef  made  his  peace  with 
the  Princess  of  Zerbst,  and  offered  himself,  most 
unexpectedly,  as  intermediary  in  the  correspond- 
ence which  she  continued  to  keep  up  with  her 
daughter,  and  which  he  had  himself  done  his 
best  to  put  down.  Finally,  he  ventured  upon  a 
heroic  effort : by  means  of  Poniatowski  a docu- 
ment of  capital  importance  was  submitted  to 
Catherine  on  the  part  of  the  chancellor.  This 
time  Bestoujef  had  burned  his  boats,  and  indeed 
risked  his  head ; but  he  opened  out  before  the 
sad  companion  of  Peter  a new  horizon,  enough  to 
dazzle  her  and  to  tempt  her  growing  ambition  ; 
he  opened  to  her,  in  some  sort,  the  way  by 
which  she  was  to  arrive  at  the  conquest  of  the 
empire  : it  was  a project  to  settle  the  succession 
to  the  throne.  It  suggested  that,  immediately 
after  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  Peter  should  be  pro- 
claimed Emperor,  but  conjointly  with  Catherine, 
who  should  become  co-partner  in  all  his  rights 
and  all  his  authority.  It  need  not  be  said  that 
Bestoujef  did  not  forget  himself.  He  reserved 
to  himself  nearly  all  the  power,  leaving  to 
Catherine  "'id  her  husband  only  what  his  position 
as  a subject  did  not  allow  him  to  take.  Catherine 
showed  on  this  occasion  the  tact  of  which  she 
had  already  given  proof.  She  was  far  from 
discouraging  the  project,  but  she  made  her 
reserves.  She  did  not  believe,  she  said,  in  the 
possibility  of  its  execution.  Perhaps  the  old  fox 
did  not  believe  it  any  more  himself.  He  went 
over  the  scheme  again,  turned  it  about,  made 
additions  and  alterations,  submitted  it  again  to 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


107 


the  interested  party,  then  made  fresh  corrections, 
and  appeared  absorbed  in  the  task.  There  was 
sharp  practice  on  both  sides ; but  the  ice  was 
broken,  and  there  were  other  points  on  which  it 
,was  easy  to  agree. 

Thus  was  Catherine  urged,  from  two  sides  at 
once,  to  come  out  of  the  reserve — a forced  reserve, 
certainly — in  which  she  had  hitherto  been  kept. 
She  was  by  no  means  disinclined.  All  her  tastes 
and  instincts  urged  her  forward.  Held  back  for 
a time  by  a sentiment  of  prudence  which  was 
only  too  well  justified,  she  ventured  timidly  at 
first,  then  more  and  more  boldly,  till  finally  she 
brought  herself  within  a hair’s-brea'dth  of  ruin. 
It  is  but  just  to  add  that  neither  Bestoujef  nor 
Williams,  the  allies  of  to-day,  the  adversaries  of 
to-morrow,  showed  any  sort  of  discretion,  first  by- 
joining  to  spread  abroad  the  growing  fame  of  the 
Grand  Duchess,  their  common  work,  then  in 
quarrelling  over  her  when  events  had  set  them  at 
variance.  Bestoujef  staked. his  w'hole  hand,  and 
endeavoured  to  increase  his  stake  as  best  he 
could.  As  for  Williams,  he  showed  himself  per- 
fectly reckless.  The  Englishman  joined  to  a 
certain  practical  ability,  and  a very  clear  sense  of 
things,  an  extraordinary  do.se  of  imagination  and 
a strange  capacity  for  making  blunders.  He  had 
the  most  chimerical  ideas  in  his  head  ; he  arranged 
things  his  own  way,  and  whenever  chance  or 
providence  disposed  them  otherwise,  he  refused 
to  accept  his  defeat.  He  was  a very  Gascon  of 
England.  When,  in  August  1755,  Hie  had 
secured  the  renewal  of  the  treaty  of  subsidies 
between  England  and  Russia,  he  chanted  vic- 
tory. He  had  gained-over  Bestoujef,  conquered 


io8  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSriA 

Elizabeth,  and  beguiled  Catherine  through  the 
medium  of  Poniatowski.  He  already  saw  a 
hundred  thousand  Russians  in  the  field,  putting 
to  flight  the  enemies  of  his  Britannic  Majesty. 
These  enemies  were  of  course  France  and  Prussia. 
Suddenly  he  learnt  that  the  Treaty  of  West- 
minster had  been  concluded  (January  5,  1756) 
and  Prussia  was  now  an  English  ally.  Williams 
was  nothing  daunted.  The  hundred  thousand 
Russians  would  now  have  only  one  enemy  to 
fight  instead  of  two.  They  would  triumph  on  the 
banks  of  the  Rhine  instead  of  conquering  on  the 
banks  of  the^  Spree.  They  would  merely  have  to 
march  a little  further.  Meanwhile  the  adven- 
turous diplomatist  put  himself  at  the  disposal  of 
Frederick.  Frederick  had  had  no  envoy  at  St. 
Petersburg  since  1750;  Williams  took  upon 
himself  to  supply  the  place.  By  means  of 
his  colleague  at  Berlin  he  set  on  foot  an  active 
exchange  of  correspondence,  intended  to  keep 
his  Prussian  Majesty  au  courant  with  what 
happened  in  Russia.  Elizabeth,  on  hearing  the 
news  of  the  Anglo-Prussian  Treaty,  at  first 
refused  to  ratify  her  own  treaty  of  subsidies  with 
England ; then,  on  signing  the  ratification, 
February  26,  1756,  she  added  a clause  which 
limited  it  to  the  single  event  of  England  being 
attacked  by  Prussia.  This  was  simply  to  annihi- 
late the  treaty,  and  to  make  game  of  both  Prussia 
and  England.  Williams  did  not  give  way  even 
yet.  Amidst  all  this  chassd-croisd  of  alliances, 
this  general  break-up  of  European  politics  which 
seemed  likely  to  be  its  result,  he  remained  faith- 
ful to  his  programme,  which  was  to  secure  the 
co-operation  of  the  Russian  forces  against  the 


THE  YOUNG  COURT  109 

enemies  of  England.  His  hatred  of  France  led 
him  forward  blindfold.  The  Treaty  of  Versailles, 
even  (May  i,  1756),  did  not  succeed  in  opening 
his  eyes.  He  did  not  or  would  not  see,  that, 
allied  as  it  now  was  with  Austria,  France  had 
become,  with  regard  to  Russia,  not  so  much  an 
enemy  to  oppose,  as  a natural  associate  in  the 
new  group  of  rival  powers  and  interests,  and  a 
brother  in  arms  in  the  coming  conflict.  It  was 
just  then  that  he  wished  to  push  forward  the 
union  that  he  had  made  with  the  young  court 
and  the  power  that  he  professed  to  wield  over 
the  dispositions  and  procedures  of  the  Grand 
Duchess.  In  his  infatuation  he  succeeded  in 
making  Frederick  believe  that  Catherine  had  the 
power  and  the  will  to  hold  back  the  Russian 
army,  at  the  very  moment  when  the  commands 
of  Elizabeth  had  sent  it  into  the  field ; that  at 
least  she  could  keep  it  inactive.  When  Frederick 
was  undeceived  it  was  too  late  : Apraksyne  had 
taken  Memel,  and  inflicted  on  the  Prussian  army 
a sanguinary  defeat  at  Gross-Jaegerdorf,  August 
1759.  But  the  illusion  lasted  two  years,  during 
which  Williams,  speaking  of  Catherine  as  his 
‘dear  friend,’  varied  at  will  her  sentiments  for 
or  against  the  King  of  Prussia,  boasted  of  the 
information,  equivalent  to  a betrayal  of  the  secrets 
of  state,  that  he  received  from  her,  and  ended  by 
imputing  to  this  Russian  Princess  the  position  of 
a common  spy  in  the  service  of  a power  with 
which  Russia  was  at  war. 

What  part  was  really  played  by  Catherine 
during  this  period,  one  of  the  most  troublous 
periods  of  her  life,  it  is  difficult  to  know  for 
certain.  Williams,  most  assuredly,  deceived  both 


no  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Frederick  and  himself.  German  historians  are 
agreed  in  accusing  the  English  cabinet  of  having 
retouched  the  despatches  of  the  presumptuous 
ambassador,  with  whom  the  cabinet  at  Berlin  was 
in  communication.  In  one  particular  instance, 
Williams  appears  to  have  carried  his  infatua- 
tion to  the  point  of  inventing  a measure  and  a 
letter  of  Catherine,  both  entirely  imaginary.  It 
is  no  less  certain  that  the  attentions  of  Williams 
and  the  homage  of  Poniatowski  did  not  permit 
the  Grand  Duchess  to  remain  entirely  disin- 
terested in  this  grave  crisis,  or  even  indifferent 
to  the  English  interests.  The  receipts  that  the 
banker  Wolff  continued  to  give  on  the  orders  of 
the  English  ambassador  had  their  eloquence. 
But,  on  the  other  side,  the  advances  of  Bestoujef 
were  not  to  be  lightly  regarded  by  Catherine ; 
now,  the  chancellor,  whom  Erederick  had  not 
succeeded  in  corrupting,  insisted  that  the  pact  of 
alliance  concluded  with  Austria  should  be  faith- 
fully carried  out.  All  that  must  have  brought 
the  political  pupil  of  Montesquieu  and  of 
Brantdme  into  many  a hazardous  and  perhaps 
contradictory  undertaking. 

Moreover,  what  she  did  not  do,  Poniatowski 
did,  or  seemed  to  do,  for  her ; and  the  Pole  began 
to  be  very  stirring.  He  was  soon  so  very  much 
so,  that,  in  the  allied  courts  of  Vienna  and 
Versailles,  he  passed  for  the  worst  enemy  that 
they  had  at  St.  Petersburg,  a man  who  must  be 
got  rid  of  at  any  price.  The  unofficial  character 
of  the  personage  seemed  to  render  the  under- 
taking easy.  Vigorous  attempts  were  made,  but 
they  met  with  an  unexpected  obstacle  . love  had 
been  left  out  of  the  question.  Williams  himself 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


III 


was  more  easily  dislodged  from  a post  in  which 
he  seemed  to  be  doing  as  much  or  more  for 
Prussia  than  for  England  itself  He  left  in 
October  1757.  Poniatowski  remained.  But 
Catherine  was  thus  brought  definitely  into  the 
field  of  politics,  which  had  been  so  expressly 
forbidden  to  her. 

We  must  add  that  her  ddbut  was  far  from 
promising.  At  her  first  trial  she  made  use  of 
her  newly-acquired  influence  in  certain  personal 
interests  to  which  she  could  not  confess,  and 
which  were,  in  certain  respects,  against  the  in- 
terests of  her  adopted  country  as  they  were  then 
understood  by  those  who  had  their  direction. 
She  had  entered  politics  on  account  of  love ; 
love  followed  and  kept  her  there.  This  episode 
of  her  life  is  so  decisive  that  we  must  dwell 
upon  it  yet  further. 

Ill 

Poniatowski  had  pleased  Catherine  because  he 
spoke  the  language  of  Voltaire  and  also  that  of 
the  heroes  of  Mile,  de  Scuderi.  He  gained  the  ^ 
favour  of  the  Grand  Duke  by  mocking  at  the  King 
of  Poland  and  his  minister,  which  was  an  indirect 
way  of  doing  homage  to  Frederick.  He  made  no 
further  conquests  at  St.  Petersburg.  Elizabeth 
looked  upon  him  askance,  and  seemed  inclined  to 
give  way  to  the  demand  of  the  Court  of  Saxony 
that  he  should  be  recalled.  By  what  title  did  he 
claim  a place  in  the  English  Embassy,  being 
neither  an  Englishman  nor  a diplomatist  ? The 
argument  was  of  small  avail.  Personages  more 
enigmatical  still,  diplomatic  agents  even  less 
authorised,  swarmed  in  every  court  in  Europe. 


\ 


Ill  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

That  of  St.  Petersburg  was  no  exception.  D’^! on 
had  just  arrived  there.  Poniatowski,  nevertheless, 
was  obliged  for  the  moment  to  obscure  himself. 
Catherine  let  him  go,  being  certain  that  he  would 
come  back  again.  He  came  back  three  months 
later,  with  the  official  title  of  Polish  Minister. 
This  was  the  doing  of  Bestoujef,  who  persisted  in 
making  himself  agreeable. 

Finding  the  ground  more  solid  under  his  feet, 
the  Pole  did  not  wait  long  before  he  began  to 
concern  himself  in  the  affairs  of  his  uncles  the 
Czartoryskis,  to  the  detriment  of  those  of  his 
master,  the  King  of  Poland;  and  in  those  of  his 
friend  Williams,  to  the  benefit  of  the  King  of 
Prussia.  Frequently  Catherine  seconded  his 
doings,  adding  postscripts  to  the  letters  he  wrote 
to  Bestoujef.  Even  if  her  intervention  did  not 
appear  openly,  it  was  easily  to  be  guessed,  and 
that  came  to  the  same  thing.  There  was  soon  a 
new  chorus  of  complaints  on  the  part  of  the 
French  and  Austrian  ambassadors.  At  one 
moment,  Douglas,  the  aide  de-camp  of  the  Mar- 
quis de  I’Hopital,  fancied  the  way  was  open 
to  a good  understanding  with  the  young  court 
and  with  Poniatowski  himself.  After  some  in- 
decision and  a certain  amount  of  resistance,  the 
Marquis  de  I’Hopital  came  over  to  his  way  of 
thinking,  and  abandoned  his  opposition  to  the 
presence  of  the  Polish  diplomatist  in  the  capital 
of  the  North.  But  at  this  very  moment  a violent 
quarrel  broke  out  between  the  representative  of 
French  interests  at  St.  Petersburg  and  its  repre- 
sentative at  Warsaw,  the  Comte  de  Broglie.  The 
latter  clamoured  with  might  and  main  for  the 
recall  of  Poniatowski.  Alas ! it  was  the  French 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


113 


interests  themselves,  the  influence  of  France  in 
the  East,  that  were  to  founder  in  the  conflict  of 
irreconcilable  ideas  and  principles. 

In  September  1757  Douglas  paid  a visit  to 
Warsaw,  and  in  a series  of  conferences  with  the 
Comte  de  Broglie  did  his  best  to  convince  him  of 
the  necessity  of  a radical  change  of  front  in  regard 
to  the  defence  of  the  French  interests  in  the  east 
of  Europe.  In  his  eyes  the  Treaty  of  Versailles, 
which  had  brought  France  into  the  system  of 
alliances  which  included  Russia  and  Austria, 
would  have  as  its  consequence  the  rupture  of  the 
old  alliances  of  the  King,  both  with  the  Porte 
and  with  Poland,  The  gain  of  a powerful  ally  at 
St.  Petersburg  would  make  up  for  the  loss  of 
influence  at  Warsaw  and  at  Constantinople. 
There  was  the  problem,  and  it  was  this  view  of 
things  that  had  convinced  both  Douglas  and  the 
Marquis  de  I’Hbpital  of  the  possibility  of  dis- 
arming the  hostility  of  the  young  court,  and  even 
of  obtaining  the  support  of  Poniatowski.  From 
the  moment  they  declared  frankly  and  entirely 
for  Russia,  the  nephew  of  the  Czartoryskis, 
occupied  in  the  advancement  at  St.  Petersburg  of 
the  Russophilist  programme  of  his  uncles,  would 
become  their  natural  ally. 

But  the  Comte  de  Broglie  was  by  no  means 
disposed  to  adopt  these  views.  As  for  those  who 
had  to  fix  his  line  of  conduct  in  this  respect,  they 
were  simply  precluded  from  having,  on  this  as  on 
many  other  points,  any  clear  and  definite  view  at 
all.  Those  who  presided  in  France  at  the  direc- 
tion of  foreign  affairs,  and  by  this  we  mean  not 
only  the  anonymous  directors  of  the  private 
politics  of  Louis  XV.,  the  holders  of  the  ‘ royal 


lU  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

secret,’  but  also  the  official  ministers,  Rouille,  the 
Abbe  de  Bernis,  or  Choiseul,  pretended  on  the 
contrary,  though  in  an  uncertain  measure,  to 
reconcile  the  most  irreconcilable  things,  the 
change  of  system  with  the  immutability  of 
principles,  the  co-operation  of  the  Russian  army 
against  a common  enemy,  with  the  retention  of  the 
old  clientele,  whether  Turkish,  Polish,  or  Swedish, 
an  advance  towards  an  obscurely-realised  future 
with  fidelity  to  the  past.  If  there  was  a divergence 
of  opinion  in  this  respect  between  the  two  powers 
of  direction,  between  the  ministerial  cabinet  and 
the  mysterious  laboratory  wherein  were  elaborated 
these  often  contradictory  despatches,  it  was  merely 
a question  of  limit  and  degree.  Doubtless,  while 
on  one  side  they  insisted  on  seeing  in  Russia 
only  the  barbarous  element,  with  which  no  under- 
standing was  possible,  which  was  merely  to  be 
driven  back  into  Asia,  on  the  other  they  were 
inclined  to  look  for  an  ally  in  the  formidable 
empire  created  by  Peter  the  Great,  an  ally,  if  not 
too  desirable,  at  all  events  possible,  and  perhaps 
necessary  in  the  more  or  less  distant  future ; a 
power,  in  any  case,  which  had  to  be  reckoned 
with,  and  to  which  it  was  well  to  make  some 
concessions,  even  on  the  banks  of  the  Vistula. 
But  both  parties  were  agreed  in  limiting  these 
concessions.  More  than  a century  was  destined 
to  elapse  before  a series  of  cruel  deceptions,  of 
sterile  efforts,  of  disasters  shared,  alas  ! by  those 
unhappy  dependants  who  were  not  to  be  sacrificed, 
and  who  were,  after  all,  sacrificed  to  a common 
illusion,  had  at  last  proved  the  essential  mistake 
of  such  a conception  of  things  and  of  such  a 
scheme.  Meanwhile  they  persisted  in  the 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


”S 

extraordinary  resolution  of  defending  Poles, 
Turks,  and  Swiss  against  the  Russians,  while  at 
the  same  time  in  alliance  with  Russia.  As  for  the 
Comte  de  Broglie,  he  had  come,  after  his  long 
residence  in  Poland,  to  identify  himself  with  the 
Polish  party,  we  might  almost  say  to  confound 
the  interests  of  France,  not  even  only  with  those 
of  Poland,  but  with  those  of  one  of  the  parties 
among  which  the  republic  was  divided ; and 
this  party  was  precisely  the  one  opposed  to  the 
Russian  interests  and  to  the  powerful  Czartoryski 
family,  which  would  advance  those  interests  and 
their  own  with  them. 

The  result  of  all  this  was,  that  the  ambassador 
of  the  King  at  Warsaw  received  in  October  orders 
at  once  official  and  secret  to  press  for  the  recall 
of  Count  Poniatowski,  which  he  did  with  all 
ardour.  In  November  the  thing  was  done. 
Briihl  had  given  way.  ‘ The  blow  has  been 
struck,’  wrote  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital  to  the 
Abbe  de  Bernis ; ‘ it  must  now  be  followed  up.’ 
But  he  added  that  the  matter  had  been  done 
much  too  brusquely.  ‘ The  consequence  will  be,’ 
he  said,  ‘ a lively  resentment  against  me  on  the 
part  of  the  chancellor  Bestoujef,  and  a bitter 
grudge  on  the  part  of  the  Grand  Duke  and 
Duchess.  ...  I cannot  help  letting  you  know 
that,  in  my  opinion,  M.  le  Comte  de  Broglie  has 
put  into  all  this  much  too  great  a heat  and  passion. 
He  has  made  it  a point  of  honour  towards  his 
party  to  inflict  this  mortification  on  the  Ponia- 
towskis  and  the  Czartoryskis.  In  short,  it  is  his 
impegno!  In  general,  I’Hopital  found  that  the 
Comte  de  Broglie,  ‘ accustomed  to  take  the  lead,’ 
took  somewhat  too  lofty  a tone  with  his  colleague, 


i6  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

and  acted  in  regard  to  him  more  as  if  he  were 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  than  Ambassador. 
This  authoritative  diplomatist  also  permitted 
himself  to  indulge  in  certain  pleasantries  that 
seemed  to  his  colleague  out  of  place.  He  had 
written  to  d’Eon  : ‘You  will  perhaps  be  surprised 
at  the  recall  of  M.  Poniatowski ; send  him  back 
to  me  quickly ; I have  an  inexpressible  desire  to 
see  him  again,  and  pay  him  my  compliments  on 
the  success  of  his  negotiations.’ 

But  Poniatowski  did  not  leave.  First  of  all  hr. 
pretended  to  be  ill,  thus  putting  off  his  leave  of 
absence  from  week  to  week  and  from  month  to 
month.  And  meanwhile  an  event  happened 
which  changed  the  whole  situation  of  affairs  and 
the  very  position  of  the  foes  on  the  European 
battle-field.  France,  which  before  had  taken  the 
tone,  if  not  of  a master,  at  least  of  one  who  must 
be  respectfully  listened  to,  at  St.  Petersburg  as 
at  Warsaw,  had  soon  to  lower  its  demands.  This 
event  was  Rosbach  (Nov.  5,  1757). 

There  was  no  more  question  for  the  cabinet 
of  Versailles  of  imposing  its  will.  The  Grand 
Duchess  made  her  own  more  emphatically  felt  by 
the  chancellor  Bestoujef.  The  latter  reminded 
her  of  the  orders  of  the  Prime  Minister  of 
Poland,  recalling  Poniatowski,  now  put  on  half- 
pay. ‘ The  Prime  Minister  of  Poland  would  go 
without  his  bread  to  please  you,’  replied  Catherine 
drily.  Bestoujef  pointed  out  the  necessity  of 
looking  after  his  own  position.  ‘ No  one  will 
molest  you  if  you  do  what  I wish  you  to  do.* 
One  sees  that  with  the  lofty  idea  of  the  power 
of  Russia,  gained  at  the  cost  of  the  present 
eclipse  of  France,  a not  less  lofty  idea  of  her 


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I17 


own  importance  had  taken  hold  of  the  future 
Empress.  This  was  another  consequence  of 
Rosbach. 

And  the  event  justified  both  suppositions. 
Briihl,  the  Saxon  Minister,  did  indeed  go  without 
his  bread  to  please  the  chancellor  of  all  the 
Russias ; Poniatowski  received  the  order  to  re- 
main at  his  post,  and  things  returned  to  their 
former  courses.  As  for  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital, 
he  gave  up,  once  for  all,  his  attempts  to  accom- 
modate himself  to  a state  of  things  in  which  he 
had  ceased  to  have  the  least  weight.  He  ceased 
to  try  to  put  back  the  current,  and  ‘ let  things 
drift.’  He  did  not  even  seek  to  enter  into 
relations  with  the  young  court,  where  he  saw  ‘ a 
little  stormy  sea,’  full  of  reefs. 

It  was  Poniatowski  himself  who,  six  months 
later,  gave  the  Comte  de  Broglie  the  satisfaction 
that  he  had  no  doubt  lost  all  hope  of  obtaining. 
To  render  himself  impossible  at  St.  Petersburg, 
after  all  he  had  done  there,  did  not  seem  an  easy 
thing  for  him.  He  succeeded  however  in  doing 
so.  The  story  has  been  differently  told  ; we  shall 
follow  the  narrative  of  the  principal  actor  in  it, 
which  is  confirmed,  almost  throughout,  by  the 
testimony  of  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital. 

The  Grand  Duke  had  not  yet  said  his  say  in 
regard  to  the  presence  of  the  Polish  diplomatist 
in  Russia,  and  the  felations  he  had  established 
there.  It  is  true  that  he  was  absorbed  by  a new 
passion:  Elizabeth  Vorontsof,  the  last  of  his 
mistresses,  had  just  entered  upon  the  scene.  An 
interference  on  his  part,  however,  remained  a 
quite  possible,  if  not  probable,  eventuality.  It 
came  in  July  1758.  Issuing  from  the  chateau  of 


ii8  CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 

Oranlenbaum  in  the  early  morning,  Poniatowski 
was  arrested  by  one  of  the  pickets  of  cavalry  that 
Peter  planted  round  his  house  as  in  time  of  war. 
He  was  in  disguise.  He  was  roughly  seized  and 
hauled  before  the  Grand  Duke.  Peter  insisted 
on  knowing  the  truth,  which  in  itself  did  not  seem 
in  the  least  to  trouble  him.  ‘ It  could  all  be 
arranged,’  he  said,  as  long  as  he  was  taken  into 
confidence.  The  silence  which  the  prisoner  felt 
bound  to  keep  exasperated  him.  He  concluded 
that  this  nocturnal  visit  had  been  meant  for  him, 
and  he  pretended  to  believe  that  his  life  was  in 
danger.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  presence  of 
mind  of  a compatriot,  recently  arrived  in  St. 
Petersburg  in  the  suite  of  Prince  Charles  of 
Saxony,  Poniatowski  might  have  paid  dearly  for 
his  imprudence.  But  the  Grand  Duke,  none  the 
less,  talked  for  some  days  of  what  he  would  do  to 
this  stranger  who  had  tried  to  elude  the  vigilance 
of  his  outposts.  Catherine  was  so  alarmed  that 
she  resigned  herself  to  a great  sacrifice  : Elizabeth 
Vorontsof  received  from  her  the  most  unhoped- 
for advances  and  civilities.  Poniatowski,  on  his 
part,  made  his  supplications  to  the  favourite.  ‘ It 
would  be  so  easy  for  you  to  render  everybody 
happy,’  he  whispered  in  her  ear,  at  one  of  the 
court  receptions. 

Elizabeth  Vorontsof  desired  nothing  better. 
The  same  day,  after  a talk  with  the  Grand  Duke, 
she  suddenly  introduced  Poniatowski  into  his 
Highness’s  apartment.  ‘What  a fool  you  have 
been,’  cried  Peter,  ‘ not  to  have  taken  me  into 
your  confidence  before ! ’ 

And  he  explained  laughingly  that  he  had  not 
the  least  wish  to  be  jealous ; the  precautions  taken 


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119 

round  Oranienbaum  were  merely  for  his  personal 
safety.  On  this  Poniatowski,  not  forgetting  to 
be  diplomatic,  broke  out  into  compliments  on  his 
Highness’s  military  arrangements,  whose  per- 
fection he  had  found  out  to  his  expense.  The 
good  humour  of  the  Grand  Duke  increased. 
‘ Since  we  are  all  good  friends,’  said  he,  ‘ there  is 
one  wanting.’ 

‘ And  with  that,’  relates  Poniatowski  in  his 
memoirs,  ‘ he  goes  into  his  wife’s  room,  pulls  her 
out  of  bed,  without  leaving  her  time  to  put  on  her 
stockings  or  shoes,  and  without  so  much  as  a 
petticoat,  brings  her  in  to  us,  and  says,  pointing 
to  me,  “Well,  here  he  is,  and  I hope  you  will  be 
satisfied.’” 

They  supped  gaily  together,  and  the  party  did 
not  break  up  till  four  o’clock  in  the  morning. 
Elizabeth  Vorontsof  was  obliging  enough  to  make 
a personal  explanation  to  Bestoujef,  in  order  to 
convince  him  that  the  presence  of  Poniatowski  at 
St.  Petersburg  had  ceased  to  be  displeasing  to  the 
Grand  Duke.  Festivities  were  recommenced 
next  day,  and  for  some  weeks  this  astonishing 
minage  a quatre  had  the  best  of  times  together. 

‘ I often  went  to  Oranienbaum,’  writes  Ponia- 
towski ; ‘ I got  there  in  the  evening,  mounted  by 
a secret  staircase  to  the  Grand  Duchess’s  apart- 
ments, where  I found  the  Grand  Duke  and  his 
mistress ; we  supped  together ; after  which  the 
Grand  Duke  departed  with  his  mistress,  saying  to 
us,  “ Now,  my  children,  you  don’t  require  me  any 
longer.”  And  I stayed  as  long  as  I liked.’ 

Rumours  of  the  adventure,  however,  began  to 
circulate  at  court,  and,  lenient  as  every  one  was 
in  matters  of  this  kind,  it  made  a scandal.  The 


120 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Marquis  de  I’Hopital  thought  it  his  duty  to  profit 
by  it  in  order  to  renew  his  demands  for  the  dis- 
missal of  Poniatowski.  This  time  he  succeeded. 
Pojiiatfiiwski  _was  obliged  to  go,  Elizabeth  saw 
that  the  reputation  of  her  nephew  and  heir 
was  at  stake.  Two  years  later  the  Baron  de 
Breteuil  was  charged  to  do  all  he  could  to  wipe 
out  the  impression  caused  on  Catherine  by  this 
painful  event.  He  only  half  succeeded.  It  is 
true  that,  uniting  as  he  did  the  position  of  official 
representative  of  French  politics  with  that  of 
secret  agent,  he  had  a double  part  to  play,  and, 
while  assuring  the  Grand  Duchess  ‘that  his  Most 
Christian  Majesty  not  only  would  make  no  oppo- 
sition to  the  return  of  Count  Poniatowski  to 
St.  Petersburg,  but  that  he  was  even  disposed  to 
lend  himself  to  the  measures  that  were  being 
taken  to  induce  the  King  of  Poland  to  take  up 
his  cause,’  he  was  obliged  also,  ‘ without  open 
offence  to  the  Grand  Duchess,  to  avoid  granting 
her  wishes,’ 

The  extravagant  dualism  which  had  resulted 
in  France  from  the  fantasy  of  the  sovereign  in 
conflict  with  the  serious  duties  of  sovereignty, 
came  out  very  eloquently  in  this  comedy.  Cathe- 
rine was  not  duped  by  it.  Having  with  some 
difficulty  obtained  a private  interview  with  the 
Grand  Duchess,  Breteuil  had  to  listen  to  some 
flattering  speeches.  ‘ I have  been  brought  up  to 
love  the  French,’  said  she,  ‘ I have  long  had  a 
preference  for  them ; it  is  a sentiment  that  your 
services  bring  back  to  me.’  ‘ I wish,’  wrote  the 
Baron  after  this  interview,  ‘ that  I could  render 
the  fire,  the  dexterity,  and  the  effrontery  that 
Madame  la  Grande  Duchesse  put  into  this  conver- 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


121 


sation.’  But  he  added  sadly : ‘ All  that  means, 
perhaps,  and  will  continue  to  mean,  nothing  but 
the  excess  of  her  thwarted  passion.’ 

He  judged  truly.  Poniatowski  was  to  return 
to  St.  Petersburg  no  more — until,  indeed,  thirty- 
five  years  later,  a dethroned  king.  Soon,  ab- 
sorbed by  other  preoccupations,  distracted  too  by 
other  amours,  Catherine  herself  lost  interest  in 
the  success  of  her  own  and  others’  tentatives  in 
this  direction.  But  the  leaven  of  spite  against 
France  remained  in  her  heart.  The  more,  as 
she  did  not,  in  giving  up  hope  of  seeing  her 
Pole  again,  give  up  thinking  of  him.  Fidelity, 
at  least  a certain  fidelity,  odd  enough  at  times, 
it  must  be  admitted,  was  a part  of  her  character. 
As  she  had  associated  politics  with  love,  she 
had  to  keep  her  love-affairs  in  line  with  her  other 
affaifs.  Now  she  could  sometimes — not  always 
^^^e  consistent  in  the  latter.  It  is  thus  that,  in 
all  her  changes  of  lovers,  she  continued  to  love 
"some  of  them,  even  beyond  the  passing  infatua- 
tion of  the  heart  and  senses.  She  loved  them  in 
another  way,  more  calm,  but  as  definite,  if  not 
more  so,  tranquilly,  ‘ imperturbably,’  as  the 
Prince  de  Ligne  was  to  say.  There  was  a 
certain  effrontery  also,  and  even  a little  cynicism, 
in  the  edict  that  she  addressed  in  1763  to  her 
ambassador  at  Warsaw,  recommending  the  can- 
didature of  the  future  King  of  Poland,  and 
stating  that  he  ‘had  rendered,  during  his  resi- 
dence at  St.  Petersburg,  more  services  to  his 
country  than  any  other  minister  of  the  republic.’ 
But  there  was  tenderness  as  well  as  a wise  fore- 
thought in  the  measures  that  she  took  at  the 
same  epoch,  in  order  to  pay  all  the  debts  of  this 
9 


123  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

singular  candidate.  In  1764  the  supposition 
of  a marriage  which  would  commingle  the  two 
empires  having  taken  general  hold  of  people’s 
minds,  Catherine  had  recourse  to  an  ingenious 
expedient  to  reassure  her  excitable  neighbours. 
She  wrote  to  Obrescof,  her  ambassador  at  Con- 
stantinople, that  he  was  to  communicate  to  the 
Porte  the  news  of  imaginary  parleyings  under- 
taken by  Poniatowski  in  view  of  an  alliance  with 
one  of  the  first  families  of  Poland.  And,  her 
heart  being  now  disinterested  in  regard  to  a 
romance  thus  followed  up  across  time  and  space, 
without  her  mind  and  her  ambition  having  lost 
interest  in  it,  she  gave  simultaneous  orders  to 
Count  Kaiserling  and  Prince  Repnine,  her  repre- 
sentatives in  Poland  ; so  that,  after  his  election, 
Poniatowski  really  did  marry  a Pole,  or  at  least 
intended  to.  It  was  a measure  designed  to  calm 
the  disquietude  of  the  Porte,  perhaps  also  to 
raise  an  insuperable  barrier  between  past  and 
present.  Alas ! a near  future  was  to  remove 
from  her  this  care,  leaving,  in  place  of  the 
obstacle  she  had  wished  for,  a bottomless  gulf. 
This  is  how  Poniatowski,  after  he  had  become 
King  of  Poland,  v/rote,  two  years  later,  to  his 
representative  at  the  court  of  St.  Petersburg, 
Count  Rzewuski : — 

‘ The  last  orders  given  to  Repnine  to  intro- 
duce dissension  even  in  the  legislation  have 
come  like  a very  thunderbolt  upon  the  country 
and  myself.  If  it  is  .'■‘'y,  possible,  make  the 
Empress  see  that  the  Crown  she  has  given  me 
will  become  a very  Nessus’  shirt  for  me,  to  burn 
and  bring  me  to  a fearful  end.’ 

The  lover  of  former  days  was  now,  for  Cathe- 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


123 


rine,  merely  the  executant  of  her  supreme  will 
in  a half-conquered  country.  She  replied  by  a 
letter  in  which  she  ordered  this  improvised  king, 
the  fragile  work  of  her  hands,  to  let  Repnine 
have  his  way  ; if  not,  ‘ there  will  only  remain  to 
the  Empress  the  continual  regret  of  having  been 
so  much  deceived  in  the  friendship,  the  way  of 
thinking,  and  the  sentiments,  of  the  King.’ 
Poniatowski  insisting  still,  she  sent  him  this  last 
and  sinister  warning,  which  already  foretells  the 
brutal  measures  of  the  Salderns,  Drevitchs,  and 
Souvarofs,  the  future  stranglers  of  the  last 
national  resistances  : ‘ A]!  that  now  remains  for 
me  is  to  leave  this  matter  to  its  fate.  ...  I close 
my  eyes  on  the  consequences,  flattered  neverthe- 
less that  your  Majesty  should  believe  me  so  far 
disinterested,  in  all  I have  done  for  yourself  and 
for  the  nation,  as  not  to  reproach  me  with  having 
set  up  in  Poland  a target  for  my  arms.  They 
shall  never  be  directed  against  those  . . . ’ 
Here  the  pen  of  the  Empress  paused  ; she  had 
written,  ‘ Those  I love  ’ ; she  erased  the  words 
and  substituted  ‘ those  to  whom  I wish  well  ’ ; 
then  she  ended  with  this  phfTse,  which  betrays 
all  her  thoughts,  and  which  must  have  soundeeP^ 
in  the  unhappy  Poniatowski’s  ears  like  the  roll  of 
drums  before  the  fire  of  the  squadron  : ‘ As  I 
shall  not  withhold  them  when  it  seems  to  me 
that  their  use  may  be  useful.’ 

We  shall  not  have  to  refer  again,  other  than 
cursorily,  to  this  lia.so'h,  destined  to  such  sin- 
gular and  tragic  reversion.  It  held,  indeed,  a 
less  important  place  in  the  life  of  Catherine  than 
in  that  of  the  unfortunate  people  called  to  play 
the  part  of  expiatory  victim.  After  having 


124  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

risked  her  reputation,  which  she  was  no  longer 
afraid  of  compromising,  and  her  credit,  which  she 
knew  so  well  how  to  keep  intact,  Catherine 
finally  gained  an  enormous  profit  therefrom. 
We  might  say  that  Poland  died  of  it,  if  nations 
had  not  more  profound  reasons  for  living  and 
dying.  We  must  now  return  to  the  period  in 
which  the  heyday  of  this  love  affair  was  about 
to  end,  and  to  this  strange  interior,  outwardly  so 
like  a prison,  a guard-house,  and  a villa,  which 
screened,  indiscreetly  enough,  so  many  mysteries. 

IV 

V y 

In  her  connections,  political  with  Williams  and 
Bestoujef,  amatory  and  political  with  Ponia- 
towski,  Catherine  is  no  longer  the  recluse  of  the 
past,  watched  by  officers  of  the  court  in  the  guise 
of  spies,  ill-treated  by  her  husband,  terrorised 
over  by  Elizabeth.  The  chancellor’s  agents 
have  been  mastered  one  by  one,  and  finally  he 
himself  has  undergone  the  same  fate.  Peter 
remains  the  same  gross,  extravagant,  and  in- 
supportable being  that  he  has  always  been,  ‘a 
strange  brute,  streaked  with  insanity,’  according 
to  St.  Beuve’s  expression.  He  still  knows  how 
to  render  himself  odious.  yFrequently  he  comes 
to  bed  dead  drunk,  and  between  two  hiccups  he 
speaks  to  his  wife  on  his  favourite  subject,  his 
amours  with  the  Duchess  of  Courland,  who  is  a 
hunchback,  or  with  Freiline  Vorontsof,  who  is 
marked  with  small-pox.  If  Catherine  pretends 
to  go  to  sleep,  he  pummels  her  with  hands  and 
feet  to  keep  her  awake  until  sleep  takes  hold  of 
himself.  He  is  almost  always  drunk,  and  he 

y 

\ 


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125 


becomes  more  and  more  mad.  In  1758  Cathe- 
rine gives  birth  to  a daughter,  the  Czarevna 
Anna,  of  whom  Pdniatowski  is  supposed  to  be 
the  father.  At  the  moment  when  the  pains 
of  childbed  take  hold  of  her,  at  half-past  two 
in  the  morning,  Peter,  informed  of  it,  arrives, 
‘ booted  and  spurred,  in  his  Holstein  uniform, 
a belt  round  his  waist,  and  an  enormous  sword 
by  his  side.’  On  Catherine’s  inquiry  as  to  why 
he  has  put  on  these  accoutrements,  he  replies 
that  ‘a  friend  in  need  is  a friend  indeed,  that  in 
this  garb  he  is  ready  to  act  as  duty  bids  him, 
that  the  duty  of  a Holstein  officer  is  to  defend 
the  ducal  house,  according  to  his  oath,  against 
its  enemies,  and  that,  believing  his  wife  was 
alone,  he  had  comd  to  her  aid.’  He  can  scarcely 
stand  on  his  feet.  /He  has  at  times,  however,  as 
we  have  seen,  his  agreeable  moments,  an  occa- 
sional access  of  good  humour  or  an  accidental 
complaisance,  which  he  exaggerates,  in  his  usual 
extravagant  way,  but  of  which  his  wife  has  the 
benefit.  It  is  partly  that,  like  others,  he  has 
come  under  the  charm  of  the  Grand  Duchess, 
or  at  least  under  the  power  of  her  mind  and 
temperament.  He  is  often  obliged  to  recognise 
the  wisdom  of  her  counsels,  and  the  accuracy  of 
her  views.  He  has  become  accustomed  to  go  to 
her  in  all  his  difficulties,  and  little  by  little  there 
has  come  into  his  dull  brain  some  notion  of  the 
superiority  that  he  is  one  day  to  realise  so 
terribly.  At  the  fatal  moment  it  is  this  idea, 
haunting  and  discouraging  him,  which  will 
paralyse  his  defence.! 

‘ The  Grand  Duke,’  writes  Catherine  in  her 
memoirs,  ‘ for  a long  time  called  me  Madame  la 


126  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Ressource,  and,  however  vexed  he  might  be  with 
me,  if  ever  he  found  himself  in  distress  on  any 
point,  he  came  running  to  me  at  full  speed,  to 
have  my  advice,  and,  as  soon  as  he  had  it,  he 
would  dash  away  again  at  full  speed.’ 

As  for  Elizabeth,  worn  out  by  an  irregular  life, 
haunted  by  terrors  which  will  not  allow  her  to 
sleep  two  nights  following  in  the  same  room,  and 
which  have  caused  her  to  search  through  all  her 
empire  for  a man  sufficiently  slumber-proof  to 
watch  all  night  by  her  bedside  without  dozing, 
she  is  now  only  the  shadow  of  herself. 

‘ This  princess,’  writes  the  Marquis  de  I’Hdpital, 
under  date  January  6th,  1759,  ‘has  sunk  into  a 
singular  state  of  superstition.  She  remains  whole 
hours  before  an  image  for  which  she  has  great 
devotion ; she  talks  to  it,  consults  it ; she  comes 
to  the  opera  at  eleven,  sups  at  one,  and  goes  to 
bed  at  five.  Count  Chouvalof  is  the  man  in 
favour.  His  family  have  taken  possession  of  the 
Empress ; and  affairs  go  as  God  wills.’ 

This  new  favourite,  Ivan  Chouvalof,  does  not 
fear  to  awaken  the  jealousy  and  the  anger  of 
the  Empress  by  paying,  under  her  very  eyes, 
assiduous  court  to  the  Grand  Duchess,  who  is  now 
the  observed  of  all.  He  covets  ‘the  double  post,’ 
declares  the  Baron  de  Breteuil,  ‘dangerous  as  it 
is.’  From  the  year  1757  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital 
is  alarmed  and  scandalised  to  see  the  young  court 
(and  the  young  court,  politically  speaking,  is 
Catherine)  ‘break  a lance  openly  with  the  Em- 
press, establish  a sort  of  counter-cabal.’  ‘ They 
say,’  he  observes,  ‘ that  the  Empress  has  given 
up  objecting  to  anything,  and  leaves  them  free 
course.’  About  the  same  time,  in  a conversation 


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127 


in  which  all  the  foreign  ministers  take  part,  the 
Grand  Duchess,  speaking  to  the  ambassador  of 
the  King  in  reference  to  her  love  of  riding,  cries  : 
‘ There  is  not  a bolder  woman  than  I ; I am 
perfectly  reckless.’  D’Eon,  who  saw  her  then, 
thus  depicts  her  : — 

‘The  Grand  Duchess  is  romantic,  ardent,  pas- 
sionate ; her  eyes  are  brilliant,  their  look  fasci- 
nating, glassy,  like  those  of  a wild  beast.  Her 
brow  is  high,  and,  if  I mistake  not,  there  is  a 
long  and  awful  future  written  on  that  brow. 
She  is  kind  and  affable,  but,  when  she  comes 
near  me,  I draw  back  with  a movement  which  I 
cannot  control.  She  frightens  me.’ 

She  frightens,  indeed,  and  fascinates  a wider 
and  wider  circle,  making  of  these  persons  the 
slaves  of  her  will,  of  her  ambition,  of  her  passions, 
now  from  day  to  day  more  ardent.  Nor  is  it 
only  in  the  domain  of  politics  that  she  begins  to 
find  elbow-room,  and  if,  in  one  respect,  the  young 
court  resembles  a stormy  sea,  as  the  Marquis  de 
I’Hdpital  would  have  it,  the  Baron  de  Breteuil 
sees  in  it,  no  doubt,  a certain  resemblance  with 
the  Parc  aux  Cerfs.  Licence  is  everywhere  the 
order  of  the  day,  during  these  last  years  of  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth.  In  March  1755  the  Saxon 
Minister,  Funcke,  gives  an  account  of  the  repre- 
sentation at  the  Imperial  Theatre  of  a Russian 
opera.  Cep  hale  and  Procris.  Elizabeth  is  present, 
the  Grand  Duke,  and  all  the  court ; and  it  is 
simply  the  court,  with  all  its  depravities,  which  is 
put  on  the  stage,  in  a series  of  tableaux  so  revolt- 
ing that  the  good  Funcke  is  obliged  to  draw  a 
veil  over  them.  To  this  same  year  belongs  the 
following  episode  (told  in  Catherine’s  memoirs). 


128 


CATHERINE  lU  OF  RUSSIA 


which  opens  a new  chapter  in  the  history  of 
her  private  life,  that  of  nocturnal  rambles,  which 
render  entirely  illusory  the  pretence  of  surveil- 
lance still  exercised  over  her.  In  the  course  of 
the  winter,  Lev  Narychkine,  who,  faithful  to  his 
buffooning  instincts,  is  accustomed  to  mew  like  a 
cat  at  the  Grand  Duchess’s  door,  to  announce  his 
presence,  makes  the  familiar  signal  one  evening, 
just  as  Catherine  is  on  the  point  of  going  to  bed. 
He  is  admitted,  and  proposes  to  go  and  see  the 
wife  of  his  elder  brother,  Anna  Nikitichna,  who 
is  ill.  ‘When?’  ‘To-night.’  ‘You  are  mad!’ 

‘ I am  quite  collected ; nothing  is  easier.’  And 
he  explains  his  project,  and  the  precaution  to  be 
taken.  They  will  pass  through  the  Grand 
Duke’s  apartments ; he  will  never  notice  them, 
as  he  will  certainly  be  at  table  with  some  jolly 
boon-companions,  if  he  is  not  already  under  the 
table.  There  is  not  the  least  risk.  He  puts 
it  so  convincingly  that  Catherine  hesitates  no 
longer.  She  has  herself  undressed  and  put  to 
bed  by  la  Vladislavova,  while  at  the  same  time 
she  gives  orders  to  a Calmuck  whom  she  has 
always  at  hand,  and  whom  she  has  trained  to  a 
blind  obedience,  to  procure  for  her  a suit  of  men’s 
clothes.  As  soon  as  la  Vladislavova  has  gone, 
she  gets  up,  and  goes  off  with  Lev  Narychkine. 
They  arrive  without  difficulty  at  Anna  Nikit- 
ichna’s, whom  they  find  in  good  health  and  in 
gay  company.  They  have  a delightful  time,  and 
all  promise  to  meet  again.  They  soon  do,  and 
Poniatowski,  naturally,  is  of  the  company.  Some- 
times they  return  on  foot  through  the  most  ill- 
famed  streets  of  St.  Petersburg.  Then,  when 
the  winter  has  become  too  severe,  they  find 


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129 


means  to  renew  their  pleasures  without  exposing 
the  Grand  Duchess  to  the  inclement  nights, 
and  the  jolly  party  ends  by  transporting  itself 
to  the  Empress’s  bedroom,  always  through  the 
apartments  of  the  Grand  Duke,  who  suspects 
nothing. 

After  her  second  confinement,  the  nights  not 
being  enough  for  her,  Catherine  arranges  to 
receive  during  the  day  whenever,  whoever,  and 
in  what  manner  soever  she  pleases.  Of  late  she 
has  suffered  somewhat  from  the  cold;  she  there- 
upon seizes  the  pretext  for  arranging  by  her  bed- 
side, by  means  of  an  assemblage  of  screens,  a 
sort  of  little  retreat,  where  she  will  be  properly 
screened  from  the  draught.  Here  she  gives 
frequent  hospitality  to  select  visitors,  such  as 
Lev  Narychkine  or  Count  Poniatowski.  The 
latter  comes  and  goes  in  a great  blond  wig,  which 
renders  him  unrecognisable,  and  if  on  the  way 
he  is  stopped  with  ‘Who  goes  there  he 
answers,  ‘ The  Grand  Duke’s  musician.’  The 
‘cabinet,’  due  to  the  inventive  spirit  of  Catherine, 
is  so  ingeniously  constructed  that  she  is  able, 
without  quitting  her  bed,  to  put  herself  into  com- 
munication with  those  who  are  there,  or,  by 
drawing  one  of  the  curtains  of  the  bed,  to  hide 
them  entirely  from  view.  One  day,  while  the 
two  Narychkines,  Poniatowski,  and  some  others 
are  hidden  behind  this  protecting  curtain,  she 
receives  Count  Chouvalof,  who  comes  to  see  her 
on  behalf  of  the  Empress,  and  who  leaves  her 
without  the  least  suspicion  that  she  was  not 
alone.  When  Chouvalof  has  gone,  Catherine 
declares  that  she  is  terribly  hungry,  orders  six 
dishes,  and,  sending  away  the  servants,  she  hiis 


130  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

supper  with  her  friends.  Then  she  draws  the 
curtain  again,  and,  summoning  the  servants  to 
take  away  the  plates,  she  amuses  herself  with 
their  astonishment  at  the  sight  of  this  extra- 
ordinary voracity. 

Doubtless  her  maids  of  honour  are  well  aware 
of  what  is  going  on.  But  they  have  other  things 
to  do  than  to  be  concerned  about  it.  They  have 
their  own  daily  and  nightly  visitors.  To  reach 
their  rooms,  it  is  true,  they  have  to  pass  through 
that  of  their  gouvernante,  Mme.  Schmidt,  or 
that  of  the  Princess  of  Courland,  honorary 
directress  of  the  establishment.  But  Mme. 
Schmidt,  ill  nearly  every  night  with  the  in- 
digestion that  she  has  given  herself  during  the 
day,  generally  leaves  the  coast  clear.  As  for  the 
Princess  of  Courland,  she  has  a weakness  herself 
fora  good-looking  man.  The  Grand  Duke’s  rela- 
tions with  her  we  have  already  seen.  Neverthe- 
less, on  the  news  that  his  wife  is  again  enceinte, 
Peter  has  a momentary  fit  of  ill  humour.  He 
does  not  remember  being  responsible  for  it. 

‘ God  knows  where  she  gets  them,’  he  grumbles 
one  day  before  the  whole  table  ; ‘ I don’t  at  all 
know  that  the  child  is  mine,  and  yet  I shall  have 
to  take  the  responsibility.’  Lev  Narychkine,  who 
is  present,  hastens  to  » eport  the  remark  to 
Catherine.  She  is  not  at  all  concerned.  ‘You 
are  children,’  she  says,  shrugging  her  shoulders. 

‘ Go  and  find  him,  speak  sharply  to  him,  and 
make  him  swear  that  he  has  not  slept  with  his 
wife  for  four  months.  After  that,  declare  that 
you  will  report  the  fact  to  Count  Alexander 
Chouvalof,  the  Grand  Inquisitor  of  the  Empire.’ 
She  thus  calls  the  head  of  the  terrible  ‘secret 


THE  YOUNG  COURT  131 

chancellorship,’  which  in  our  days  has  been  re- 
placed by  the  famous  third  section.  Lev  Narych- . 
kine  faithfully  executes  her  commission.  ‘ Go  to 
the  devil!’  replies  the  Grand  Duke,  whose  mind 
is  not  quite  easy  on  the  subject. 

But,  despite  the  assurance  that  she  has  shown 
on  this  occasion,  the  incident  gives  some  uneasi- 
ness to  Catherine.  She  sees  in  it  a warning,  and 
a commencement  of  hostilities  in  the  decisive 
struggle  for  which  she  has  for  some  time  been 
preparing.  She  accepts  the  challenge.  It  is 
from  this  moment,  if  w'e  may  believe  her,  that  she 
forms  the  resolution  to  ‘ follow  an  independent 
line,’  and  we  know  where  these  simple  words  will 
lead  her.  The  last  agony  of  Peter  III.  in  the 
sinister  house  of  Ropcha  comes  at  the  end  of  \j 
the  way  she  has  chosen.  But  it  is  at  this  same 
moment  that  she  stands  face  to  face  with  the 
crisis  which  in  some  hours  and  for  some  months 
threatens  her  with  the  ruin  of  all  her  hopes  and  ; 
all  her  ambitions. 

' V 

On  February  26th  (14th,  Russian  style),  1758, 
the  chancellor  Bestoujef  was  arrested.  At 
the  same  time  field-n\arshal  Apraksyne,  com- 
mandant of  the  army  sent  into  Prussia  against 
Frederick,  was  removed  from  command  and 
brought  to  trial.  These  two  events,  though 
they  had  not  really  a cause  in  common,  seemed, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  to  hang  together.  We 
know  what  had  taken  place  in  the  course  of  the 
last  campaign.  The  capture  of  Memel  and  the 
victory  of  Gross-J  aegersdorf,  achieved  by  Aprak- 


132  CATHERINE  IT.  OF  RUSSIA 

syne  in  August  1757,  had  transported  with  joy 
the  allies  of  Russia,  and  awakened  in  their  minds 
the  liveliest  hopes.  Already  they  saw  Frederick 
lost  and  at  bay,  begging  for  mercy.  Suddenly, 
instead  of  pushing  forward  and  profiting  by  its 
advantages,  the  victorious  army  abandoned  its 
position  and  beat  a retreat  so  precipitately  that 
phe  would  have  thought  the  rd/es  to  be  reversed, 
and  the  Prussian  troops,  instead  of  having  re- 
ceived a bloody  defeat,  to  have  won  another 
triumph.  A great  cry  of  indignation  arose  in 
the  camp  of  Frederick’s  enemies.  Evidently 
Apraksyne  had  betrayed  them.  But  why?  It  was 
known  that  he  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Bestoujef. 
It  was  known,  too,  that  the  Grand  Duchess 
had  written  to  him  several  times  by  the  means 
and  at  the  suggestion  of  the  chancellor.  That 
was  quite  enough.  '^Evidently  the  field-marshal 
had  carried  out  a plan  concocted  by  the  friends, 
new  or  old,  of  Prussia  and  England.  Bestoujef, 
bought  by  Frederick,  had  won  over  Catherine, 
whose  relations  with  Williams  and  Poniatowski 
rendered  her  only  too  likely  to  be  so  influenced, 
and  between  them  both  they  had  induced  the 
victorious  general  to  sacrifice  his  own  glory, 
the  interests  of  the  common  cause,  and  the 
honour  of  his  flag.  France  especially  was  con- 
vinced of  this.  The  Comte  de  Stainville,  am- 
bassador of  the  King  at  Vienna,  was  instructed 
to  propose  a common  application  to  Elizabeth 
for  the  dismissal  of  Bestoujef.  Kaunitz  reflected, 
and  finally  declined  the  proposition.  He  had, 
meanwhile,  received  information  from  St.  Peters- 
burg which  cleared  Bestoujef  and  Catherine. 
The  representative  of  the  court  of  Vienna  at, 


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*33 


St.  Petersburg,  Esterhazy,  did  not  believe  them 
culpable.  The  Marquis  de  I’Hopital  was  alone 
in  supporting  the  accusation.  He  supported  it 
to  the  very  end.  During  the  inquiry  against  the 
ex-chancellor,  he  wrote  : — 

‘ This  first  minister  had  found  means  to  win  over 
the  Grand  Duke  and  Duchess  to  use  their  influence 
with  Apraksyne  to  hinder  him  from  acting  as 
vigorously  and  promptly  as  the  Empress  ordered 
him  to  do.  These  plots  were  made  under  her 
Majesty’s  very  eyes ; but  as  her  health  was  then 
very  uncertain,  she  was  entirely  taken  up  with  it, 
whilst  the  whole  court  was  at  the  disposition 
of  the  Grand  Duke,  and  especially  the  Grand 
Duchess,  who  was  gained  over  by  the  chevalier 
Williams  and  by  English  money,  with  which  this 
ambassador  supplied  her  by  means  of  her  jeweller 
Bernard!,  who  has  confessed  all.  The  Grand 
Duchess  had  the  indiscretion,  not  to  say  temerity, 
to  write  a letter  to  General  Apraksyne,  in  which 
she  dispensed  him  from  the  oath  that  he  had 
made  to  her  not  to  bring  the  army  into  the  field, 
and  giving  him  permission  to  put  it  in  action. 
M.  de  Bestoujef,  having  one  day  shown  this 
letter  to  M.  de  Bucow,  lieutenant-general  of  the 
Empress,  who  had  come  to  St.  Petersburg  to  push 
forward  the  operations  of  the  Russian  army,  this 
officer  immediately  informed  M.  de  Vorontsof, 
the  chamberlain  Schwalof,  and  M.  le  Comte 
Esterhazy.  This  was  the  first  step  in  M.  de 
Bestoujef s ruin.’ 

It  is  almost  certain  that  if  the  conduct  of  the 
chancellor,  as  well  as  that  of  Catherine,  appeared 
somewhat  dubious  in  regard  to  this  circumstance, 
they  had  neither  of  them  any  hand  in  the  retreat 


t34 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


of  Apraksyne’s  army.  Catherine  took  some 
trouble  to  clear  her  conduct  and  that  of  her  sup- 
posed accomplice  from  all  suspicion,  and  she  did 
so  at  a time  when  she  need  not  have  minded 
confessing  the  truth.  The  movements  of  the 
Russian  army  after  the  victory  of  Gross-J  aegers- 
tiorf  were  made  in  consequence  of  three  councils 
■pf  war,  held  on  the  27th  August  and  the  13th  and 
/28th  September.  General  Fermor,  who  suc- 
ceeded Apraksyne  in  command,  had  been  present 
at  these  councils,  and  had  voted  for  the  retreat. 
The  army  was  dying  of  hunger*,  and  Apraksyne 
had  foreseen  that  it  would  be  so.  The  partisans 
of  the  Austrian  alliance-  had  urged  it  forward 
without  thinking  of  providing  it  with  food. 
Those  about  Eli^beth,  tqp,  had  -cried,  heed- 
lessly enough,  ‘A  Berlin ! a Berlin ! ’ But  it 
was  thought  well  to  give  satisfaction  to  the 
clamours  of  the  Austro-French  party  by  sacri- 
ficing the  marshal.  As  for  Bestoujef,  his  ruin 
had  long  been  decided  "on,  and  the  disgrace  of 
Apraksyne  was  but  a pretext  to  hasten  his. 
The  chancellor’s  enemies  had  got  scent  of  his 
project  for  eventually  associating  Catherine  with 
the  government  of  the  empire.  They  insinuated 
to  Elizabeth  that  among  the  minister’s  papers 
would  be  found  some  endangering  the  safety 
of  her  crown.  That  decided  her. 


Imagine  the  terror  of  Catherine  on  learning  of 
this  formidable  event!  Would  she  not  seem  to 
be  the  accomplice  of  the  minister  who  had  come 
to  his  downfall  on  an  accusation  of  a definite 
state  crime?  Her  letters  to  Apraksyne  were 
nothing.  But  the  great  project  which  had  been 
formed  on  her  behalf, — what  a menace  seemed 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


>35 


to  be  suspended  above  her  head ! The  prison, 
torture  perhaps ; and  afterwards,  what  sort  of 
disgrace  ? the  convent  ? dismissal  to  Germany  ? 
who  knows,  perhaps  Siberia  ? A cold  shiver  ran 
through  her  veins.  This  is  what  all  her  dreams 
were  to  end  in ! 

But  she  soon  took  heart  again.  At  this  tragic 
moment  we  see  her  rise  to  the  occasion,  strong 
and  resolute,  calm  and  full  of  resources ; just  as 
a near  future  was  to  show  her,  when,  having  done 
violence  to  fortune  and  snatched  the  supreme 
power,  she  was  to  weave  out  of  the  bloody  vest- 
ments of  Peter  III.  the  most  magnificent  imperial 
mantle  that  woman  has  ever  borne.  Her  edu- 
cation is  done ; she  is  now  in  full  possession  of 
all  her  gifts,  natural  and  acquired,  of  one  of  the 
most  marvellous  intellectual  and  physical  organi- 
sations that  have  ever  been  made  for  combat, 
for  the  conduct  of  affairs,  and  for  the  government 
of  men  and  things.  She  has  not  a moment’s 
hesitation.  She  faces  the  danger  resolutely. 
The  day  after  the  chancellor’s  arrest  there  is 
a state  ball,  in  honour  of  the  marriage  of  Lev 
Narychkine.  Catherine  appears  at  the  ball. 
She  is  smiling  and  unaffectedly  gay.  The 
charge  of  the  trial  which  is  on  foot  has  been 
confided  to  three  high  dignitaries  of  the  empire. 
Count  Chouvalof,  Count  Boutourline,  and  Prince 
Troubetzkoi'.  Catherine  goes  up  to  the  last- 
named.  ‘ What  are  these  fine  affairs  that  I have 
heard  of.?  ’ says  she  playfully.  ‘ Have  you  found 
more  crimes  than  criminals,  or  more  criminals 
than  crimes?’  Surprised  by  such  Trou- 

betzkoi stammers  out  some  excuse  or  other. 
He  and  his  colleagues  have  done  what  they 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


136 

have  been  told  to  do.  They  have  interrogated 
the  supposed  criminals.  As  for  the  crimes,  they 
have  yet  to  be  found.  Somewhat  reassured, 
Catherine  goes  on  to  gather  further  information. 
‘ Bestoujef  is  arrested,’  says  Boutourline  simply ; 
‘ we  have  now  to  find  out  why.’ 

^ So  nothing  has  yet  been  discovered,  and  it  is 
Catherine  who,  interrogating  the  two  inquisitors  of 
Elizabeth,  and  listening  to  their  replies,  has  made 
a discovery.  In  their  embarrassed  air,  in  their 
eyes  that  dare  not  meet  her  own,  she  has  divined 
the  fear  that  she  inspires  already.  Some  hours 
later  she  breathes  yet  more  freely : the  Holstein 
minister  Stampke  has  brought  her  a note  from 
Bestoujef  himself  bearing  these  words : ‘ Have 
no  fear  in  regard  to  that  you  know  of ; I have 
had  time  to  burn  all.’  The  old  fox  was  not  to 
be  caught  in  the  snare.  Catherine  can  thus  go 
forward  without  fear.  The  time  is  past  when, 
counselled  by  Madame  Kruse,  one  of  her  maids 
of  honour,  she  had  replied  to  the  least  reproach 
of  the  Empress,  ‘ Vinovata  matouchka  (I  am  in 
the  wrong,  little  mother),’  which  produced,  it 
seems,  a marvellous  effect.  The  Marquis  de 
I’Hopital,  whose  advice  she  seeks,  no  doubt  in 
order  that  she  may  put  him  on  the  wrong  scent, 
recommends  her  to  make  full  confession  to  the 
Empress.  She  is  far  enough  from  doing  that ! 
To  begin  with,  she  makes  use  of  Stampke,  of 
Poniatowski,  her  valet  de  chambre  Chkourine, 
to  keep  up  an  active  correspondence  with  Bes- 
toujef and  the  other  prisoners  implicated  in  the 
accusation  against  him,  the  jeweller  Bernard!, 
the  Russian  master,  Adadourof,  and  lelaguine, 
a friend  of  Poniatowski.  A little  servant,  who  is 


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137 


i 


allowed  to  look  after  the  ex-chancellor,  leaves  and 
takes  the  letters  from  a heap  of  bricks  used  as 
a letter-box,  which  serves  also  a double  purpose, 
for  the  love-correspondence  with  Poniatowski 
is  carried  on  by  the  same  means.  The  Pole 
gives  her  a rendezvous  for  the  evening  at  the 
opera,  and  Catherine  promises  to  be  there  with- 
out fail,  coHie  que  coute.  She  finds  it  no  easy 
matter  to  keep  her  word,  for  at  the  last  moment 
the  Grand  Duke,  who  has  made  his  own  plans 
for  the  evening,  and  who  does  not  wish  to  have 
them  upset  by  his  wife  going  out  with  her  maids 
of  honour,  especially  one  of  them,  the  Freiline 
Vorontsof,  puts  in  an  objection.  He  goes  so 
far  as  to  countermand  the  orders  that  the  Grand 
Duchess  has  given,  and  forbids  the  horses  to  be 
put  in  the  carriage.  Catherine  declares  that 
she  will  go  to  the  theatre  if  she  has  to  go  on 
foot;  but  first  she  will  write  to  the  Empress^ 
to  complain  of  the  ill-treatment  of  the  Grand^ 
Duke,  and  to  ask  permission  to  go  back  to  her 
parents  in  Germany.  Just  this — a forced,  humili- 
ating return  to  her  native  country,  to  a narrow 
horizon,  to  mediocrity,  to  the  misery  of  the 
domestic  hearth — is  of  all  things  what  she  now 
fears  the  most.  Where,  even,  could  she  return 
Her  father  is  no  more ; she  had  mourned  his 
death  in  1747.  She  had  even  been  hindered 
from  mourning  it  too  long;  she  had  been  told 
at  the  end  of  a week  that  that  was  enough,  and 
that  the  deceased  not  having  worn  a crown, 
etiquette  did  not  allow  her  a longer  mourning. 

As  for  her  mother,  she  herself  had  had  to  leave 
Germany,  in  consequence  of  a well  known  inci- 
dent, which  had  brought  about  the  occupation  of 

10 


138  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA) 

the  Duchy  of  Zerbst  by  Frederick.  In  August 
1757  the  Abb6  de  Bernis  had  sent  a special 
emissary  to  Zerbst,  the  Marquis  de  Fraignes, 

‘ with  the  view  of  inspiring,  in  the  mind  of 
Madame  la  Grande- Duchesse  of  Russia,  through 
Madame  la  Princesse  de  Zerbst,  her  mother,  the 
desired  feelings.’  Frederick,  hearing  of  the 
presence  in  his  neighbourhood  of  a French 
officer,  ordered  a detachment  of  his  huzzars  to 
capture  him.  Surprised  in  his  sleep,  de 
Fraignes  made  a spirited  defence.  He  barri- 
caded himself  in  his  room,  shot  the  first  Prussian 
who  crossed  the  threshold,  roused  the  entire 
town,  and  was  saved,  and  taken  to  the  castle. 
Frederick,  who  would  not  be  thus  balked,  sent 
a whole  corps  of  soldiers  with  cannon  to  besiege 
the  refractory  Frenchman.  De  Fraignes  at  last 
gave  in.  The  Duchy  and  town  of  Zerbst  had 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war.  The  reigning 
Duke,  who  was  now  the  brother  of  Catherine, 
sought  refuge  at  Hamburg.  The  mother  took 
shelter  in  Paris,  where,  though  she  seemed  to 
have  suffered  for  France,  and  to  some  extent 
through  it,  she  was  not  welcomed.  Her  liking 
for  intrigue  and  her  restless  spirit  were  feared, 
though  it  seemed  useful,  all  the  same,  to  have 
in  her  a sort  of  surety,  and  a powerful  hold  upon 
the  Grand  Duchess.  But  it  is  precisely  this 
which  alarmed  people  at  St.  Petersburg.  On 
the  demand  of  the  vice-chancellor  Vorontsof, 
I’Hopital  had  to  beg  that  the  princess  should  be 
sent  back.  The  reply  was,  naturally,  that  she  had 
riot  been  asked  to  come,  that,  had  it  been  thought 
of,  she  would  have  been  detained  at  Brussels, 
but  that  she  could  not  be  turned  away,  now  that 


THE  YOUNG  COURT  139 

she  was  there,  without  gravely  offending  the 
Grand  Duchess,  and  even  without  doing  wrong 
to  France:  ‘for  France,’  wrote  de  Bernis  nobly, 

‘ has  always  been  the  refuge  of  unhappy  princes. 
The  Princess  of  Zerbst,  who  has  suffered  partly 
by  reason  of  her  devotion  to  the  king,  has  more 
right  to  it  than  most’ 

Where  then  would  Catherine  go  if  she  were 
to  leave  Russia?  To  Paris?  Assuredly  Eliza- 
beth would  never  consent  to  lengthen  the  list 
of  unhappy  princes  domiciled  in  France  by 
addinof  to  it  a Grand  Duchess  of  Russia.  But 
the  more  impossible  it  appeared  to  Catherine, 
the  mpre  she  felt  emboldened  to  beg  for  it 
Elizabeth,  on  her  side,  is  in  no  haste  to  respond 
to  this  embarrassing  request.  She  sends  word 
to  the  Grand  Duchess  that  she  will  have  a per- 
sonal explanation  with  her.  Days  and  weeks 
pass.  The  examination  of  Bestoujef  and  his,, 
supposed  accomplices  goes  on  apace,  and,  if 
one  may  believe  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital,  who 
follows  feverishly  the  course  of  affairs,  every  day 
new  proofs  are  discovered  of  his  culpability,  with- 
out, however,  the  opportunity  of  bringing  in  a 
sufficiently  definite  act  of  accusation  to  allow  of 
a trial. 

Finally  Catherine  carries  the  day  by  main 
force.  One  night  the  Empress’s  chaplain  is 
awakened  with  the  news  that  the  Grand  Duchess 
is  very  ill,  and  desires  to  confess  herself.  He 
goes,  and  allows  himself  to  be  convinced  of  the 
necessity  of  giving  the  alarm  to  the  Czarina. 
Elizabeth  is  frightened,  and  agrees  to  what  had 
been  asked  : for  the  sake  of  Catherine’s  health 
an  interview  must  be  granted,  and  she  grants  it. 


140  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Of  this  meeting  we  know  only  what  Catherine 
has  told  us  herself.  Forty  years  afterwards  her 
memory  may  well  have  deceived  her  in  a few 
details,  and  this  remark  applies  to  the  whole  of 
her  autobiography,  from  which  we  have,  up  to 
now,  made  numerous  excerpts,  and  from  which 
we  must  now,  unhappily,  cease  to  borrow ; for  the 
memoirs  stop  at  this  exact  point.  There  is  no 
trace,  however,  of  arrangement  or  straining  after 
effect  in  these  pages ; the  narrative  rises  without 
preparation  and  without  apparent  effort  to  the 
most  intensely  dramatic  point.  One  sees  the 
scene  of  the  interview  : the  Empress’s  dressing- 
room,  a vast  apartment  bathed  in  semi-obscurity, 
for  it  is  the  evening.  At  one  end,  like  an  altar, 
the  table  of  white  marble  before  which  the 
Empress  passes  long  hours,  seeking  the  fled 
dream  of  her  former  beauty,  shines  in  the  shadow, 
its  heavy  ewers  and  basins  of  fine  gold  shedding 
dull  gleams.  In  one  of  these  basins  the  sharp 
eyes  of  Catherine,  attracted  by  a streak  of  light, 
observe  a roll  of  paper,  which  the  hand  of  the 
Empress  has  evidently  just  thrown  there.  It  is, 
she  feels  sure,  the  incriminating  papers — her 
correspondence  with  Bestoujef  and  Apraksyne. 
From  behind  a screen  comes  a stifled  murmur  of 
voices  : she  recognises  them.  Her  husband  is 
there,  and  also  Alexander  Chouvalof ; doubtless 
as  witnesses.  At  last  Elizabeth  appears,  frigid  in 
manner,  brief  in  speech,  her  eyes  hard  and  cold. 
Catherine  throws  herself  at  her  feet.  Without 
giving  the  Empress  time  to  commence  her  ex- 
amination, she  renews  the  request  she  has  already 
made  in  writing : that  she  may  be  allowed  to 
return  to  her  mother.  She  has  tears  in  her  voice: 


THE  YOUNG  COURT  141  * 

it  is  the  sorrowful  complaint  of  a child  whom 
strangers  have  ill-used,  and  who  cries  to  go  back 
to  its  own  people.  Elizabeth  is  surprised,  and 
somewhat  embarrassed. 

‘How  shall  I explain  your  departure?’  she 
says. 

‘ By  saying  that  I have  had  the  misfortune  to 
offend  your  majesty.’ 

‘ But  how  will  you  live  ? ’ 

‘As  I did  before  your  Majesty  deigned  to 
summon  me  hither.’ 

‘ But  your  mother  has  had  to  leave  her  home. 
She  is  at  Paris,  as  you  know.’ 

‘ In  Cruth  she  has  called  on  herself  the  hate  of 
the  King  of  Prussia  through  her  love  for  Russia.’ 

The  answer  is  triumphant.  Every  word  tells. 
The  embarrassment  of  the  Czarina  increases 
visibly.  She  endeavours,  however,  to  reassume 
the  offensive  ; she  reproaches  the  young  woman 
with  her  excessive  pride.  Once,  in  the  Summer 
Palace,  she  had  been  obliged  to  ask  her  if  she 
had  a stiff  neck,  so  difficult  did  she  seem  to  find 
it  to  incline  her  head  before  the  Empress.  The 
conversation  thus  turns  to  a vulgar  quarrel  of 
wounded  self-esteem.  Catherine  makes  herself 
humbler  and  smaller  than  a blade  of  grass.  She 
has  no  recollection  of  the  incident  that  her  Majesty 
would  recall  to  her  mind.  Doubtless  she  is  too 
stupid  to  have  understood  the  words  that  her 
Majesty  deigned  to  address  to  her.  But  her 
eyes — those  wild  beast’s  eyes  of  which  d’Eon 
speaks— are  fixed  glitteringly  upon  the  Empress. 
I'o  avoid  the  look  before  which  Troubetzkoi  and 
Boutourline  have  trembled,  Elizabeth  goes  to  the 
other  end  of  the  room  and  speaks  to  the  Grand 


142  CATHERINE  II,  OF  RUSSIA 

Duke.  Catherine  listens.  Peter  profits  by  the 
occasion  to  make  accusations  against  his  wife, 
whom  he  fancies  already  condemned.  In  violent 
terms  he  denounces  her  wickedness  and  ob- 
stinacy. Catherine  flares  up  : ‘ I am  wicked,  I 
know,’  she  cries,  in  a ringing  voice ; ‘ I am  and  I 
ever  will  be  against  those  who  deal  unjustly  with 
me.  Yes,  I am  obstinate  with  you,  since  I have 
learnt  that  one  gains  nothing  by  giving  way 
to  your  caprices ! ’ 

‘ Y ou  see  now  ! ’ says  the  Grand  Duke  trium- 
phantly, addressing  the  Empress.  But  the 
Empress  is  silent.  She  has  again  met  the  look 
of  Catherine,  she  has  heard  the  ring  of  her  voice, 
and  she  too  is  afraid.  Once  more  she  endeavours 
to  intimidate  the  young  woman.  She  orders  her 
to  avow  the  culpable  relations  that  she  has  had 
with  Bestoujef  and  Apraksyne  ; to  admit  that  she 
has  written  other  letters  to  the  latter  besides  those 
which  have  been  found.  On  her  refusal,  she 
threatens  to  put  the  ex- chancellor  to  the  torture. 
‘ As  it  pleases  your  Majesty,’  replies  Catherine 
coldly.  Elizabeth  is  overcome.  She  changes 
her  tone  ; puts  on  a confidential  air  ; intimates  to 
Catherine  by  a gesture  that  she  cannot  speak  to 
her  openly  before  the  Grand  Duke  and  Chouvalof. 
Catherine  is  prompt  to  seize  the  indication. 
Lowering  her  voice,  she  says,  in  a humble 
murmur,  that  she  longs  to  open  all  her  heart  and 
mind  to  the  Empress.  Elizabeth  is  touched, 
and  sheds  a few  tears.  Catherine  does  the  same. 
Peter  and  Chouvalof  are  astounded.  To  put  an 
end  to  the  scene,  the  Empress  points  out  that  it 
is  very  late.  As  a matter  of  fact  it  is  three 
o’clock  in  the  morning.  Catherine  retires,  but 


THE  YOUNG  COURT 


before  she  has  had  time  to  go  to  bed,  Alexander 
Chouvalof  comes  to  her  from  the  Empress,  to 
bid  her  be  of  good  courage,  and  to  announce  to 
her  that  she  shall  have  another  interview  shortly 
with  her  Majesty.  A few  days  after,  the  vice- 
chancellor  in  person  is  sent  to  her  by  Elizabeth 
to  beg  her  to  think  no  more  of  returning  to 
Germany,  At  last,  on  the  23rd  of  May  1758, 
the  two  women  meet  again,  and  part  apparently 
enchanted  with  one  another.  Catherine  weeps 
once  more,  but  it  is  tears  of  joy  that  flow  from 
her  eyes,  ‘ as  she  thinks  of  all  the  benefits  that 
the  Empress  has  conferred  upon  her.’  Her 
victory  is  complete  and  decisive. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


I 


After  the  departure  of  Williams  and  Ponia- 
towski,  after  the  fall  of  Bestoujef,  Catherine  found 
herself  severed  from  all  those  with  whom  the 
chances  of  her  destiny  had  brought  her  most  in 
contact  since  her  arrival  in  Russia.  Zahar  Tcher- 
nichef  was  always  in  the  field ; Sergius  Saltykof 
lived  at  Hamburg  in  a sort  of  exile.  In  April 
1759  she  lost  her  daughter.  In  the  following 
year  her  mother  died  at  Paris  (none  too  soon,  it 
must  be  said),  and  with  her  the  last  link  was 
broken  that  attached  her  to  the  country  of  her 
birth.  But  in  Russia  she  had  no  more  isolation 


>44 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


to  fear.  Williams  had  been  replaced  by  Keith, 
and  Keith,  it  is  true,  applied  himself  with  greater 
diligence  to  win  the  favour  of  the  Grand  Duke. 
Contrary  to  his  predecessor,  he  found  Peter  quite 
efficient  in  the  r3le  that  he  intended  him  to  play, 
a simple  rd/e  of  reporter  and  spy.  Peter  showed 
himself  perfect  in  the  part.  His  perverse  mind 
made  him  find  a malicious  pleasure  in  this  base 
occupation.  Ere  long  the  services  that  he  rendered 
to  England  and  Prussia,  to  which  Frederick  gave 
a word  of  grateful  remembrance  in  his  History  of 
the  Seven  Years'  War,  were  of  public  notoriety 
at  St.  Petersburg.  This  did  not,  however,  pre- 
vent Keith  from  making  himself  useful  to  the 
Grand  Duchess,  and,  like  Williams,  lending  her 
money. 

^ Poniatowski,  too,  had  been  replaced.  In  the 
spring  of  1759  there  came  to  St.  Petersburg 
Count  Schwerin,  aide-de-camp  of  the  King  of 
Prussia,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the 
battle  of  Zorndorf  (August  25,  1758).  He  was 
treated  as  a distinguished  stranger  who  had  come 
to  pay  a visit  to  the  capital.  As  a mere  matter 
of  form,  two  officers  were  appointed  to  have  him 
in  charge.  One  of  these  officers  had  signally 
distinguished  himself  at  Zorndorf,  where  he  had 
received  three  wounds  without  leaving  his  post. 
He  had  the  fatalistic  courage  of  the  East.  He 
believed  in  his  destiny.  He  was  right : was 
Gregory  Orlof.  There  were  five  brothers  in  the 
Guards.  Tall  as  his  brother  Alexis,  endowed 
like  him  with  herculean  strength,  Gregory  Orlof 
excelled  them  all  by  the  beauty  of  his  calm 
regular  face.  He  was  handsomer  than  Ponia- 
towski,  handsomer  even  than  Sergius  Saltykof,  a 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


145 


giant  with  the  face  of  an  angel.  There  was 
nothing  else  angelic  about  him,  however.  Of 
small  intelligence  and  no  education,  living  the 
ordinary  life  of  his  companions-at-arms,  but  living 
it  a outrance,  passing  his  time  in  gambling,  drink- 
ing, and  paying  court  to  brunette  and  blonde, 
always  ready  to  pick  a quarrel,  and  to  knock 
down  any  one  who  opposed  him,  ready  to  run 
any  danger,  and  to  stake  his  fortune  on  the  cast 
of  the  die,  the  more  so  as  he  had  nothing  to  lose, 
always  having  the  air  of  being  half  intoxicated, 
even  when  by  chance  he  had  taken  nothing, 
insatiable  of  every  sort  of  pleasure,  ready  to  go 
blindfolded  into  any  adventure,  his  whole  life  a 
sort  of  madness  ; such  was  the  man  who  was  now 
to  enter  into  the  life  of  the  future  Empress,  and, 
still  mingling  politics  and  love,  to  hold  for  so 
long  the  second,  if  not  the  first  place  in  her  mind 
and  heart.  The  first  place  was  for  ambition5-«i^ 
The  traits  we  have  indicated  do  not  make  pre- 
cisely a romantic  hero,  but  there  was  nothing  in 
them  to  scandalise  Catherine.  She  too,  all  her 
life,  loved  adventures,  and  consequently  she  was 
far  from  disliking  adventurers.  The  ‘ headlong 
recklessness  ’ that  she  one  day  indicated  in  herself 
to  the  Marquis  de  I’Hbpital,  went  well  with  that 
of  Gregory  Orlof.  More  than  beauty,  more  than 
wit,  he  possessed  a charm  which  for  long  was  in 
the  eyes  of  Catherine  the  most  powerful  charm 
of  all,  which  exercised  over  her  a kind  of  fascina- 
tion, which  at  one  time  attracted  her  in  Patiom- 
kine,  and  which  chained  her  for  years  to  the 
t uncouth  person  of  this  cyclops  : ‘ he  had  a devil.* 
Konigsberg,  where  he  had  lived  in  garrison 
long  kept  the  legend  of  his  prowess  as  a viveur 


146 


CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


He  began  to  form  the  same  reputation  at  St 
Petersburg,  where  in  1 760  he  received  the  envied 
post  of  aide-de-camp  of  the  General  Grand 
Master  of  Artillery.  The  post  was  occupied  by 
Count  P.  J.  Chouvalof,  cousin-german  of  the  all- 
powerful  favourite  of  Elizabeth.  This  helped  to 
bring  Orlof  forward.  Chouvalof  had  a mistress, 
Princess  Helen  Kourakine,  whose  beauty  was 
the  talk  of  St.  Petersburg.  Orlof  became  the 
rival  of  his  new  chief,  and  carried  the  day.  This 
drew  all  eyes  upon  him,  Catherine’s  among  the 
rest.  But  he  was  near  paying  dear  for  his 
triumph.  “Chouvalof  was  not  the  man  to  pardon 
an  injury  of  the  sort.  The  confidence  that  Orlof 
had  in  his  lucky  star  was  not  at  fault : Chouvalof 
died  before  he  had  time  to  avenge  himself,  and 
Catherine  continued  to  interest  herself  in  the 
adventures  of  this  young  man  who  risked  his 
head  in  turning  that  of  a fair  princess.  It  hap- 
pened that  he  lived  just  opposite  the  Winter 
Palace.  This  too  helped  in  bringing  Orlof  and 
Catherine  together. 

This  officer,  so  full  of  charm  and  assurance, 
was  naturally  an  influential  man  in  the  milieu  in 
which  he  lived.  And  this  milieu  was  to  have  a 
main  importance  for  a Grand  Duchess  of  Russia, 
who  was  determined  ‘ to  follow  an  independent 
line.’  In  her  memoirs,  Catherine  returns  again 
and  again  to  the  earnest  desire  that  she  professes 
to  have  had  from  the  first  to  conciliate  the  good 
will  of  an  element  that  she  feels  to  be  the  true 
and  only  support  of  her  position  in  Russia.  This 
element  she  calls  the  Russian  ‘public.’  She  is 
for  ever  concerned  about  what  this  ‘ public  ’ will 
say  or  think  of  her.  She  tries  to  win  it  over  to 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE  147 

her  side.  She  would  fain  accustom  it  to  rely  on 
her  in  case  of  need,  in  order  that  she  may  rely  on 
it  in  turn.  This  is  a form  of  speech  which  is 
enough  to  inspire  doubt  concerning  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  document  in  which  we  find  it.  At 
the  time  when  Catherine  is  supposed  to  have 
written  out  these  confidences,  she  not  merely 
paid  small  heed  to  this  element  of  which  she 
thought  so  much  thirty  years  before,  she  had 
even  had  time  to  find  out  that  it  did  not  exist  in 
Russia,  at  least  in  this  acceptation,  and  with  so 
well-defined  a place  of  its  own.  Where  could  a 
‘public’  of  this  kind,  that  is  to  say,  a social  col- 
lectivity, endowed  with  will  and  intelligence, 
susceptible  of  thinking  and  acting  in  common, 
have  been  found  in  the  Russia  of  that  time.? 
Nothing  of  the  kind  was  to  be  seen.  Above, 
there  was  a group  of  functionaries  and  of  courtiers, 
religiously  subjected  to  all  the  degrees  of  the 
tchine  and  to  all  the  steps  of  human  baseness, 
trembling  at  a look,  annihilated  by  a gesture ; 
below,  the  people,  that  is  to  say,  a quantity  of 
muscular  forces  capable  of  being  put  to  drudgery, 
the  souls  only  taken  into  account  in  the  adding 
up  of  units  for  an  inventory ; between  both, 
nothing,  except  the  clergy,  a considerable  power, 
but  little  accessible,  little  manageable,  more  likely 
to  act  de  haut  en  bas  than  de  bas  en  haul,  in  no 
way  to  be  utilised  for  political  ends.  It  was  not 
any  of  these  that  had  supported  Elizabeth,  that 
had  placed  her  on  the  throne.  Something  there 
was,  nevertheless,  that  had  done  so,  something 
which  was  strong  and  which  could  act  on  occa- 
sion, apart  from  all  these  : the  army. 

Catherine  loved  Gregory  Orlof  for  his  beauty, 


£48  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

his  courage,  his  giant’s  build,  his  audacity,  his 
recklessness.  She  loved  him  also  for  the  four 
regiments  that  he  and  his  brothers  seemed  to 
hold  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands.  He,  on  his 
part,  did  not  linger  long  at  the  feet  of  the  Princess 
Kourakine.  He  was  not  the  man  to  keep  from 
lifting  his  eyes  higher,  especially  when  they  met 
with  such  encouraging  smiles.  \ He  was  not  the 
man,  either,  to  make  a mystery  of  his  new 
amours.  He  had  published  the  name  of  the 
Princess  without  caring  what  the  Grand  Master 
of  Artillery  would  say  to  it ; he  published  the 
name  of  the  Grand  Duchess  with  equal  com- 
posure. Peter  said  nothing  : he  was  otherwise 
occupied.  Elizabeth  said  nothing  : she  was  dying. 
Catherine  let  him  act  as  he  pleased : she  was  not 
averse  to  having  her  name  associated  in  the 
barracks  with  that  of  the  fine  Orlof,  whom  the 
officers  adored,  and  for  whom  the  men  would 
have  gone  through  fire.  Later,  in  1762,  she 
wrote  to  Poniatowski,  ‘ Osten  remembers  seeing 
Orlof  follow  me  about  everywhere  and  commit  a 
thousand  follies ; his  passion  for  me  was  public 
property.’ 

She  was  well  pleased  to  be  followed  about. 
After  Poniatowski,  this  violent  and  headstrong 
soudard  must  doubtless  have  seemed  to  her  a 
little  strong  in  flavour.  But  she  was  not  Rus- 
sified for  nothing.  The  taste,  the  necessity  even, 
of  such  contrasts  was  a part  of  th^  temperament 
of  this  people,  which  but  yesterday  had  acquired 
a precocious  civilisation,  which  had  become  her 
own  people,  with  whom  she  little  by  little  as- 
similated herself,  taking  their  very  inmost  nature 
for  her  own.  After  a few  months  passed  in  the 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


149 


most  cunning  refinements  of  the  most  luxurious 
ease,  Patiomkine  threw  himself  into  a kibitka, 
and  covered  nearly  2000  miles  without  stopping, 
without  anything  to  eat  but  raw  onions.  Catherine 
did  not  travel  by  kibitka,  but  in  love,  certainly, 
she  was  ready  to  go  from  one  extreme  to  another. 
After  Patiomkine,  who  was  a savage,  she  found 
charm  in  Mamonof,  whom  the  Prince  de  Ligne 
himself  considered  well-bred.  The  sheer  brutal 
passion  of  the  Russian  lieutenant  gave  her  a 
change  after  the  wire-drawn  love-making  of  the 
Polish  diplomatist. 

^''''^oltaire,  Montesquieu,  and  Parisian  societyi^ 

.were  not,  however,  forgotten.  It  is  at  this  time, 

Mn  1762,  that  she  made  friends  with  the  afterwards 
celebrated  and  troublesome  Princess  Dachkof. 
She  was  the  youngest  of  the  three  daughters  of 
Count  Roman  Vorontsof,  brother  of  the  vice- 
chancellor.  The  eldest,  Marie,  had  married 
Count  Boutourline.  The  second,  Elizabeth, 
dreamt  of  marrying  the  Grand  Duke.  She  was 
the  favourite.  The  Empress  had  jestingly  named 
her  Madame  de  Pompadour,  and  every  one  at 
court  called  her  by  this  name.  The  third, 
Catherine,  was  fifteen  years  of  age  when,  in 
1758,  the  Grand  Duchess  met  her  in  the  house 
of  Count  Michael  Vorontsof,  her  uncle.  She 
did  not  know  a word  of  Russian,  spoke  only 
French,  and  had  read  all  the  books  in  that 
language  that  she  could  meet  with  in  St.  Peters- 
burg. Catherine  was  immensely  taken  with  her. 
Having  married  Prince  Dachkof  shortly  after, 
she  followed  him  to  Moscow,  and  Catherine  lost 
sight  of  her  for  two  years.  In  1761  she  returned 
to  St.  Petersburg,  and  passed  the  summer  of 


ISO  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

that  year  in  a datcha  belonging  to  her  uncle 
Vorontsof,  situated  midway  between  Peterhof, 
where  the  Empress  was  residing,  and  Oranien- 
baum,  the  usual  residence  of  the  Grand  Duke 
and  Duchess  during  the  hot  weather.  Every 
Sunday  Catherine  went  over  to  Peterhof  to  see 
her  son,  whom  the  Empress  would  not  give  u^. 
On  the  way  back  she  would  stop  at  the  Voront- 
sof datcha,  and  carry  off  her  young  friend  for 
the  rest  of  the  day.  They  discussed  philosophy, 
history,  and  literature,  and  the  gravest  scientific 
and  social  problems.  Perhaps  they  sometimes 
chanced  upon  gayer  subjects  ; but  with  these 
two  young  women,  one  of  whom  was  scarcely 
thirty,  and  the  other  not  yet  twenty,  gaiety 
was  a rare  visitor.  The  Grand  Duchess  had 
grave  cares  at  the  time,  and  the  Princess  Dachkof 
was  always  a very  serious  person.  Later  on, 
her  society  became  less  agreeable  to  Catherine, 
and  ended  by  becoming  absolutely  insupportable. 
But  just  then  the  future  Semiramis  was  very  glad 
to  find  some  one  with  whom  she  could  talk  of 
s,  things  of  which  Orlof  understood  nothing,^_^t 
pleased  her,  also,  tTfind  in  the  mind  of  a Russian 
some  glimmer,  however  pale,  of  that  Western 
culture  for  which  she  dreamt  of  making  a home 
in  the  heart  of  this  immense  and  barbarous 
empire.  This  little  person  of  seventeen,  who 
had  read  Voltaire,  was  a fine  opportunity ; the 
firstfruits  of  the  propaganda  that  she  wished 
to  accomplish.  And  then  she  was  a Russian 
grande  dame,  connected  by  birth  and  by  marriage 
with  two  influential  families.  This  too  had  _ its 
inally,  beneath  the  varnish  of  an 
ar  to  her  own,  as  heterogeneous 


V , importance, 
~^'^educatioh  sirhil; 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


iSi 


and  as  incomplete,  beneath  the  odds  and  ends 
of  ideas  and  the  scraps  of  learning  picked  up 
here  and  there  at  the  chance  of  hurried  reading, 
Catherine  discovered  in  her  friend  an  ardent  and 
fiery  soul,  equipped  for  all  hazards.  The  demon 
of  madness,  which  shook  the  athletic  frame  of 
her  new  lover,  dwelt  also  in  this  frail  child. 
They  went  hand  in  hand  until  the  day  when  the 
destiny  of  one  of  them  was  decided. 

Neither  the  acquisition  of  Orlof  nor  of  this 
new  friend,  however,  made  up  for  the  loss  of 
Bestoujef.  The  statesman  trained  in  affairs,  the 
man  of  experience  and  of  wise  counsel,  called 
for  a successor.  A successor  was  found,  Panine. 
Panine  was  the  political  scholar  of  the  ex-chan- 
cellor. Ten  years  before,  Bestoujef  had  thought 
of  him  as  a possible  favourite  for  Elizabeth. 
Panine  was  then  a handsome  young  man  of 
twenty-nine,  and  for  some  time  the  Czarina 
looked  upon  him  with  anything  but  an  indifferent 
eye.  The  Chouvalofs,  who  considered  the  place 
in  question  as  a sort  of  patrimony,  and  who 
were  in  league  with  the  Vorontsofs  against  the 
supremacy  of  Bestoujef,  got  him  out  of  the  way. 
He  was  sent  to  Copenhagen,  then  to  Stockholm, 
where  he  played  a somewhat  important  part  in 
the  struggle  against  French  influence.  The 
change  of  system,  which  placed  Russia  and 
France  side  by  side  in  the  same  camp,  neces- 
sitated his  recall  in  17^0.  Elizabeth  thought  of 
him  for  the  post  of  tutor  to  the  Grand  Duke 
Paul,  which  had  become  vacant  on  the  resig- 
nation of  Behtieief.  The  Chouvalofs  did  not 
oppose  the  choice.  After  Alexander  Chouvalof, 
after  Peter  Chouvalof  his  brother,  it  was  now 


152  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

Ivan  Chouvalof,  a cousin,  who  held  the  other 
post,  which  alone  was  of  consequence.  Himself 
but  thirty,  he  did  not  fear  the  competition  of 
Panine,  who  had  aged. 

Cold,  methodical,  with  a certain  nonchalance 
which  became  more  and  more  marked,  Panine 
was  just  the  man  to  act  as  counterpoise  to  the 
stormy  temperaments  of  which  Catherine  formed 
the  centre.  His  political  ideas  drew  him  natur- 
ally to  the  side  of  the  Grand  Duchess,  while 
they  drew  him  away  from  the  Prussian  tendencies 
of  the  Grand  Duke.  Like  Bestoujef,  he  remained 
Austrian  in  his  sympathies.  The  strange  temper 
of  Peter  somewhat  terrified  him,  the  more  so  as 
he  had  cause  to  suffer  from  it  himself  There 
were  discussions,  naturally,  concerning  the  event, 
which  seemed  to  draw  nearer  and  nearer,  and 
which  began  to  occupy  all  minds,  from  end  to 
end  of  Europe.  Elizabeth  was  dying,  and  her 
death  would  be,  not  only  at  St.  Petersburg,  the 
signal  of  a political  crisis  of  incalculable  import- 
ance. A irTfieTn tereSts  concerned  in  the  strife 
of  parties  between  the  great  continental  powers 
depended  on  this  near  eventuality.  After  the 
taking  of  Colberg  (December  1761),  a few  months 
more  allowed  for  the  combined  action  of  the 
Russian  and  Austrian  troops,  it  was  the  certain, 
the  inevitable,  ruin  of  Frederick.  The  vanquished 
of  Gross- J aegersdorf  and  of  Kunersdorf  had  no 
illusions  himself  on  the  point.  But  it  could  be 
equally  well  predicted  that  the  accession  of 
Peter  HI.  would  bring  to  an  end  the  common 
campaign  against  the  King  of  Prussia. 

Panine  considered  the  problem,  and  seemed 
inclined  to  solve  it,  if  not  absolutely  in  favour 


153 


/ 


I- 


'I  HE  EIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


of  Catherine’s  secret  ambitions,  at  least  in  such 
a manner  as  to  protect  her  interests  against  the 
hostile  intrigues  about  the  bed  of  the  dying 
Czarina.  According  to  an  apparently  serious 
authority,  the  Vorontsofs  had  nothing  less  in 
view  than  to  procure  the  divorce  of  Catherine, 
and  to  proclaim  the  illegitimate  birth  of  the  little 
Paul.  After  which  the  heir  of  Elizabeth  would 
marry  the  Freiline  Vorontsof.  Happily  for 
Catherine,  this  too  ambitious  way  of  arranging 
things  awoke  the  rival  susceptibilities  of  the 
Chouvalofs,  who,  as  a counterblast  to  the  project, 
went  to  the  extent  of  plotting  that  Peter  should 
be  sent  into  Germany,  and  the  little  Paul  inw  _ 
mediately  raised  to  the  throne,  with  Catherine 
as  his  guardian.  Between  these  two  opposeST” 
camps,  Panine  adopted  a middle  plan,  declaring 
himself  in  favour  of  letting  things  follow  their 
natural  course,  save  that  a salutary  influence  in 
the  future  government  of  Elizabeth’s  nephew 
should  be  reserved  for  Catherine,  and,  through 
her,  for  himself.  Catherine  listened,  and  said  -y, 
nothing.  She  had  her  own  ideas.  She  also 
talked  over  things  with  the  Orlofs. 

II  P 


Elizabeth  died  on  the  5th  of  January  1762, 
without  having  made  any  change  in  her  instruc- 
tions for  the  succession  of  Peter.  Had  she  ever 
had  the  intention  of  changing  them  ? The 
matter  is  uncertain. 

‘The  wish  and  expectation  of  all,’  wrote  the 
Baron  de  Breteuil  in  October  1 760,  ‘ is  that  she 

II 


154  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

will  establish  on  the  throne  the  littife  Grand  Duke, 
to  whom  she  seems  passionately  attached.’ 

A month  later,  he  recounted  the  following : — 

‘ The  Grand  Duke  had  gone  for  a couple  of 
days  into  the  country  for  hunt’v  g,  and  that  very 
day  the  Empress  suddenly  ordered  that  a Russian 
piece  should  be  played  at  her  theatre,  and,  con- 
trary to  usage,  did  not  invite  the  foreign  ministers 
and  the  other  persons  at  the  court  who  were 
generally  presen';  f so  that  she  went  to  the  play 
with  only  the  few  people  who  were  in  immediate 
attendance  on  her.  The  little  Duke  accompanied 
her,  and  the  Grand  Duchess,  having  alone  been 
invited,  was  also  present.  Scarcely  had  the  per- 
formance begun  when  the  Empress  complained 
of  the  small  number  of  spectators,  and  she  com- 
manded that  all  her  guard  should  be  admitted. 
The  hall  was  soon  filled  with  soldiers.  Then, 
according  to  all  reports,  the  Empress  took  the 
little  Grand  Duke  on  her  knees,  caressed  him 
in  the  most  marked  manner,  and,  addressing 
some  of  these  old  grenadiers,  to  whom  she  owes 
all  her  grandeur,  she  presented  the  child  to  them, 
so  to  speak,  spoke  to  them  of  his  good  qualities 
and  his  charms,  and  seemed  to  take  pleasure 
in  receiving  their  military  compliments.  These 
performances  went  on  almost  all  through  the  play, 
and  the  Grand  Duchess  seemed  well  pleased.’ 

If  we  may  believe  the  authority  that  we  have 
cited  above,  Panine,  while  seeming  to  make 
common  cause  with  the  Chouvalofs,  must  have 
played  them  false  at  the  last  moment : a monk 
had  been  brought  by  him  to  the  bedside  of 
Elizabeth,  who  had  induced  her  to  make  her 
peace  with  Peter.  It  is  more  probable  that 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE  155 

Elizabeth  could  not  make  up  her  mind,  or  not 
in  time.  She  had  come  to  detest  her  nephew, 
but  she  loved  her  peace  of  mind  above  all. 
Her  death,  which  had  been  expected  for  years, 
left  room  for  the  hypothesis  of  a revolution 
which  would  supply  the  place  of  her  will, 
weakened  as  it  was  by  debauch.  The  Baron 
de  Breteuil  wrote  : — 

‘ When  I look  at  the  hate  of  the  nation  for 
the  Grand  Duke,  and  the  errors  of  this  prince, 
I am  tempted  to  imagine  an  entire  revolution ; 
but  when  I observe  the  base  and  pusillanimous 
air  of  those  who  are  on  the  point  of  raising  the 
mask,  I see  fear  and  servile  obedience  come 
into  play  with  the  same  tranquillity  as  at  the 
Empress’s  usurpation.’ 

This  is  precisely  what  happened.  If  we 
may  believe  Williams,  Catherine  had  planned 
five  years  before  the  part  that  she  was  to  play 
by  the  dying  bed  of  Elizabeth.  ‘ I shall  go 
straight,’  she  said,  ‘ to  the  room  of  my  son  ; if 
I meet  Alexis  Razoumofski  1 will  leave  him 
with  my  little  Paul ; if  not,  I will  take  the 
child  into  my  own  room.  At  the  same  time 
I shall  send  a trusty  messenger  to  summon 
five  officers  of  the  Guard,  each  of  whom 
will  bring  fifty  soldiers,  and  I shall  send  for 
Bestoujef,  Apraksyne,  and  Eleven.  I shall  go 
into  the  death-chamber,  where  I shall  receive 
the  oath  of  the  captain  of  the  Guard,  and  I shall 
take  him  with  me.  If  I see  the  least  hesitation, 
I shall  lay  hands  on  the  Chouvalofs.’  She 
added  that  she  had  already  had  an  interview 
with  the  hetman  Cyril  Razoumofski,  and  that 
he  answered  for  his  regiment,  and  engaged  to 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


156 

bring  with  him  the  Senator  Boutourline,  Trou- 
betzkoi,  and  even  the  vice-chancellor  Vorontsof. 
She  even  wrote  to  Williams  : ‘ The  Czar  Ivan 
the  Terrible  proposed  to  fly  to  England;  for 
my  part  I shall  not  seek  refuge  with  your  king, 
for  I am  resolved  to  reign  or  to  perish.’ 

Is  Williams  to  be  believed  ? According  to 
the  Abbe  Chappe  d’Auteroche,  it  was  a quite 
different  scene  that  took  place  at  the  moment 
of  the  Empress’s  death.  The  French  historian 
represents  her  throwing  herself  at  her  husband’s 
feet,  and  declaring  her  wish  to  serve  him  ‘ as 
the  first  slave  of  his  empire.’  Later  on, 
Catherine  was  greatly  offended  by  this  account 
of  things,  denying  it  on  oath  with  a singular 
vehemence.  We  may  be  excused  from  pro- 
nouncing an  opinion. 

At  all  events  Peter  took  possession  of  his 
/empire  quite  peaceably.  His  reign  began  just 
^ f as  it  had  been  anticipated  on  all  hands. 
Frederick  breathed  freely  again,  and  might 
well  feel  himself  saved  by  the  death  of  Eliza- 
beth. On  the  very  night  of  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  Peter  sent  couriers  to  the 
different  corps  of  his  army,  with  orders  to 
suspend  hostilities.  The  troops  occupying  East 
Prussia  were  to  stay  their  march.  Those  acting 
in  concert  with  the  Austrians  were  to  separate 
from  them.  They  were  all  to  accept  an  armistice 
if  the  proposition  were  made  to  them  by  the 
Prussian  generals.  At  the  same  time  the 
Emperor  despatched  the  chamberlain  Goudo- 
vitch  to  Frederick  himself  with  a letter  from 
his  hand  giving  expression  to  his  friendly  inten- 
tions. Then  followed  rapidly  public  resolutions 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


157 


and  demonstrations  announcing  a radical  change 
of  tendencies  and  sympathies.  Even  the  French 
players  were  dismissed  without  the  smallest 
^consideration.  Lastly,  in  February  a declaration 
addressed  to  the  representatives  of  France, 
fcpain,  and  Austria,  informed  them  of  what 
^ey  had  to  expect  under  the  new  rule  : Peter 
turned  round  upon  his  allies  without  ceremony, 
told  them  that  he  had  decided  to  mal^  peace, 
and  advised  them  to  do  the  same.  scene, 
picturesquely  recounted  by  the  Baron  de  Breteuil, 
emphasised,  two  days  after,  the  last  part  of  this 
declaration.  It  was  on  the  25th  of  February 
1762,  at  a supper-party  given  by  the  chancellor 
Vorontsof.  It  lasted  from  ten  in  the  evening 
till  two  in  the  morning.  The  Czar,  says  de 
Breteuil,  ‘ never  ceased  all  the  time  to  bawl, 
and  drink,  and  talk  nonsense.’  Towards  the 
end  Peter  rose,  staggering,  and  turning  towards 
General  Werner  and  Count  Hordt,  drank  a toast 
to  the  King  of  Prussia.  ‘ Things  are  different 
now  from  what  they  have  been  for  years  past/ 
he  said,  ‘ and  we  shall  see,  we  shall  see ! ’ At 
the  same  time  he  threw  confidential  smiles  and 
looks  at  Keith,  the  English  ambassador,  whom 
he  called  ‘ his  dear  friend.’  At  two  o’clock  in 
the  morning  the  company  passed  into  the  salon. 
Instead  of  the  usual  faro-table  there  was  a great 
table  covered  with  pipes  and  tobacco.  To  pay 
court  to  the  Emperor,  one  was  obliged  to 
smoke  a pipe  for  hours  together,  and  drink 
English  beer  and  punch.  However,  after  a long 
talk  with  Keith,  his  Majesty  proposed  to  play 
at  campi.  During  the  game,  he  calls  over  the 
Baron  de  Posse,  the  Swedish  minister,  and  tries 


IS8  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

to  convince  him  that  the  declaration  recently 
issued  by  Sweden  is  exactly  the  same  as  his 
own.  ‘It  is  only  intended,’  explains  Posse, 

‘ to  call  the  attention  of  the  allies  to  the  diffi- 
culties which  would  be  incurred  by  a prolonga- 
tion of  the  war.’  ‘ We  must  make  peace,’ 
declares  the  Emperor.  ‘ For  my  part,  I will 
have  it’  The  game  continues.  The  Baron 
de  Breteuil  loses  a few  ducats  to  Prince  George 
of  Holstein,  the  uncle  of  the  Czar,  whom  he 
had  once  encountered,  in  the  course  of  his 
military  career,  on  a German  battle-field.  ‘Your 
old  antagonist  has  got  the  better  of  you ! ’ cries 
Peter,  laughing.  He  continues  to  laugh  and 
repeat  the  word,  like  a drunken  man.  The 
Baron  de  Breteuil,  a little  taken  aback,  ex- 
presses his  assurance  that  neither  he  nor  France 
will  ever  have  the  Prince  as  adversary  again. 
The  Czar  makes  no  reply,  but  a little  while 
after,  seeing  Count  Almodovar,  the  Spanish 
minister,  lose  in  turn,  he  whispers  in  the  ear 
of  the  French  envoy,  ‘ Spain  will  lose.’  And 
he  laughs  once  more.  The  Baron  de  Breteuil, 
choking  with  rage,  endeavours  to  preserve  a 
cool  demeanour,  and  replies  in  his  most  dignified 
manner,  ‘ I think  not,  sire.’  Upon  which  he 
proceeds  to  point  out  what  might  be  done  with 
the  forces  of  Spain  joined  to  those  of  France. 
The  Emperor  only  replies  with  mocking  ‘ ha- 
ha’s.’  At  last  the  French  diplomatist  sums 
up  the  matter  ; ‘ If  your  Majesty  Remains  stead-^ 
fast  in  your  alliance,  as  you  have  promised  and 
as  you  are  bound  to  do,  both  Spain  and  France 
are  in  the  best  of  cases.’ 

This  time  Peter  can  contain  himself  no  longer. 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


159 


He  roars  out  in  a rage : ‘ I told  you  two  days 
ago  : I will  have  peace.’ 

‘ And  we  too,  sire ; but  we  would  have  it,  as 
your  Majesty  would  also,  honourably,  and  in 
agreement  with  our  allies.’ 

‘Just  as  you  please.  For  my  part,  I will  have 
peace.  After  that,  you  can  do  as  you  like.  Finis 
coronat  opus.  I am  a soldier,  and  I don’t  joke.’ 
Upon  which  he  turns  on  his  heel. 

‘ Sire,’  replies  the  Baron  de  Breteuil  gravely, 
‘ I will  report  to  the  K ing  the  declaration  that 
your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  make  to  me.’ 

It  is  the  final  rupture.  The  Chancellor 
Vorontsof,  who  is  immediately  informed  of  the 
incident,  attributes  the  fault  to  his  master’s 
drunken  condition  and  his  peculiar  temper.  He 
offers  his  excuses.  But  neither  at  St.  Petersburg 
nor  at  Versailles  is  there  any  uncertainty  as  to 
the  bearing  of  the  Emperor’s  words. 

‘You  will  have  imagined  my  indignation,’ 
writes  the  Duke  de  Choiseul,  ‘on  hearing  of 
what  took  place  on  the  25th  of  February.  I 
confess  I did  not  expect  treatment  of  this  kind, 
for  France  is  not  yet  accustomed  to  having  its 
laws  dictated  to  it  by  Russia.  I do  not  believe 
M.  Vorontsof  can  give  you  any  further  explana- 
tions. It  is  useless  to  demand  them.  We  know 
all  there  is  to  know,  and  the  final  information 
that  we  shall  get  will  be  the  news  of  a treaty 
made  between  Russia  and  our  enemies.' 

— ^ As  a matter  of  fact  that  is  exactly  what  hap- 
pened two  months  later.  On  April  24th  Peter 
i signed  a treaty  of  peace  with  Prussia,  in  which 
^ylie  inserted  a paragraph  announcing  the  speedy 
Aconclusion  of  a defensive  and  offensive  alliance 
' \ 


i6o  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

between  the  two  powers.  He  announces  publicly 
his  intention  of  putting  himself,  with  a body  of 
troops,  at  the  disposition  and  under  the  orders  of 
Frederick.  It  is  a project  that  he  has  long  had 
in  view.  In  May  1759  the  Marquis  de  I’Hopital 
notified  to  his  cabinet : — 

‘ The  Grand  Duke,  finding  himself  alone  with 
Count  Schwerin  and  Prince  Czartoryski,  began 
to  praise  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  said  in  so 
many  words  to  Count  Schwerin  that  he  would 
think  it  an  honour  and  glory  to  make  a cam- 
paign under  the  command  of  the  King  of 
Prussia.’ 

At  the  same  tirhe  Peter  seemed  desirous  of 
seeking  a quarrel  with  Denmark,  on  account  of 
its  German  possessions.  The  Emperor  of  Russia 
was  ready  to  stoop  to  avenge  the  injuries,  real  or 
imaginary,  of  the  Duke  of  Holstein.  A Russian 
historian  has  written  a book  to  explain  ‘the 
political  system,’  as  he  is  pleased  to  call  it,  of 
Elizabeth’s  successor.  In  his  opinion  the  whole 
future  of  Russia  would  have  been  at  stake  if  this 
‘system’  had  had  its  way.  It  seems  to  us  that 
this  is  too  much  honour  to  Peter  HI.  and  his 
policy.  Did  he  really  dream  of  ‘ sacrificing  the 
mouth  of  the  Dvina,  and  cutting  himself  off  from 
some  millions  of  compatriots,  in  order  that,  with 
the  aid  of  Prussia,  he  might  lay  hold  of  another 
shore,  some  hundreds  of  versts  away,  seize  on 
the  mouth  of  the  Elbe,  and  extend  his  dominion 
over  a few  thousands  of  Dano-Germans  ? ’ We 
are  inclined  to  think  that  he  simply  wished  to 
express  his  admiration  for  Frederick,  and  astonish 
the  Germans  with  his  general’s  uniform.  He 
continued  to  play  at  soldiers ; only,  having  the 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE  i6i 

choice  before  him,  he  was  no  longer  content  with 
foot-soldiers  in  paste. 

In  the  interior  he  proclaimed  himself  an 
earnest  reformer.  Ukase  followed  ukase,  one 
decreeing  the  secularisation  of  the  estates  of  the 
clergy,  another  the  emancipation  of  the  nobility, 
another  the  suppression  of  the  ‘ secret  chancellor- 
ship,’ or  political  police  organisation.  What  are 
we  to  think  of  this  precipitate  legislation  ? Was  ^ 
Peter  really  and  truly  a liberal  ? A contemporary, 
Prince  Michael  Chtcherbatof,  explained  after  his 
own  fashion  the  ukase  on  the  nobility.  One 
evening  when  he  wished  to  escape  the  vigilance 
of  his  mistress,  Peter  called  aside  his  secretary  of 
state,  Dimitri  Volkof,  and  thus  addressed  him  ; 

‘I  have  told  Mile.  Vorontsof  that  I shall 
spend  part  of  the  night  working  with  you  on  a 
project  of  the  greatest  importance.  You  must 
therefore  let  me  have  a ukase  to-morrow  which 
will  be  the  talk  of  the  court  and  the  town.’ 
Volkof  bowed  ; next  day  Peter  was  satisfied,  and 
the  nobility  as  well.  It  is  probable  that  the  new 
Emperor,  while  influenced  to  some  extent  by  his 
surroundings,  and  applying,  without  reflection, 
the  ideas  that  they  gave  him,  was  obedient,  in 
especial,  to  the  instinct  of  meddling  with  every- 
thing which  we  find  in  most  children,  and  which 
in  him  was  increased  by  his  naturally  restless 
spirit.  It  amused  him  to  overturn  the  constitu- 
tion of  his  empire  with  a signature,  and  to  see 
about  him  the  frightened  looks  of  those  whom 
these  rapid  changes  alarmed.  They  were  his 
little  jokes.  Perhaps,  too,  he  thought  to  imitate 
Frederick.  He  enjoyed  himself  vastly,  and  felt 
himself  in  a fair  way  to  make  a great  sovereign, 


/ ■ i6j 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Was  he  really  in  danger  of  alienating  the 
affection  of  his  subjects,  or  of  shaking  the 
foundations  of  his  throne,  by  these  measures 
abroad  and  at  home?  We  cannot  believe  it. 
"^His  subjects  had  seen  so  many  contradictory 
measures ! The  clergy  was  certainly  wounded  to 
the  quick,  but  it  said  nothing.  The  nobility  had 
had  reason  to  be  satisfied,  but  it  too  had  nothing  to 
say.  The  senate  offered  to  the  Emperor  a statue 
of  gold,  which  he  refused.  Later  on,  much  was 
said  about  the  symptoms  of  disorganisation  which 
had  begun  to  manifest  themselves  throughout 
the  machinery  of  government  before  the  event 
which  brought  the  new  reign  to  an  end.  Such 
observations  are  always  made  after  the  event. 
Meanwhile  Peter  reigned  tranquilly,  despite  his 
eccentricities.  Biron  before  him  had  been  more 
eccentric  still.  The  machinery  of  government  in 
Russia  resembled  the  massive  sledge  that  had 
brought  Catherine  as  far  as  Moscow : it  was 
proof  against  blows. 

4 Peter  was  guilty  of  two  capital  faults — in 
jmaking  one  malcontent  and  in  exasperating 
another.  The  malcontent  was  the  army.  Not 
that  it  was  so  averse  as  people  have  imagined 
to  changing  sides,  and  fighting  with  the  Prussians 
against  the  Austrians  after  having  fought  with 
the  Austrians  against  the  Prussians.  The  hatred 
of  the  peaked  helmet,  attributed  to  the  soldiers 
commanded  in  1762  by  a Tchernichef  or  a 
Roumiantsof,  seems  to  us  a quite  modern  in- 
vention. The  peaked  helmet  did  not  exist,  and, 
German  for  German,  the  warriors  of  Maria 
Theresa  were  no  less  so  than  those  of  Frederick. 
Peter  wished  to  introduce  into  his  army  the 


THE  FIGHT  FOR^H^ THRONE  163 

Prussian  discipline ; it  is  that  which  his  army 
could  not  forgive.  It  had  a discipline  of  its  own. 
For  a slight  infraction,  one  of  those  grenadiers 
whom  Elizabeth  cherished  so  dearly,  and  with 
such  good  reason,  could  be  sentenced  to  3000, 
4000,  or  even  5000  blows  of  the  stick,  without 
protesting  against  the  sentence.  If,  sometimes, 
he  did  protest  against  this  frightful  torture,  he 
went  back  to  the  ranks  without  a murmur.  But 
it  seemed  to  him  intolerable  that  he  should  be 
made  to  go  all  over  a manoeuvre  again  because 
of  a fault  in  the  ensemble.  Then  Peter  spoke  of 
changing  the  uniforms : that  was  a second  offence. 
Finally,  he  spoke  of  suppressing  the  Guards, 
his  grandfather  had  suppressed  the  Strelitz.  This 
was  to  lay  hands  on  the  Holy  of  Holies.  For 
nearly  half  a century  the  Guards  had  been  the 
most  solid  and  stable  thing  in  the  empire.  The 
new  Czar  began  by  dismissing  the  bodyguards, 
those  whose  under-officers  the  late  Empress  had 
invited  to  dinner.  He  replaced  them  by  a Hol- 
stein regiment.  Prince  George  of  Holstein  was 
named  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Russian  army, 
and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  horse-guards,  who 
had  always  had  the  sovereign  himself  as  their 
Colonel.  It  was  too  much  to  be  endured.  It 
seems  to  us  that  the  almost  unanimous  testimony 
of  contemporaries  in  regard  to  the  hostile  public 
feeling  evoked  by  the  new  Emperor  refers  entirely 
to  these  military  reforms,  and  to  the  effect  which 
they  produced  in  the  ranks  of  the  army.  We 
know  already  what  the  word  ‘ public  ’ meant  in  7 
Russia. 

The  exasperated  malcontent  was  Catherine. 

In  this  respect  a positive  madness  seemed  to 


1 64 


//.  OF  RUSSIA 


have  come  over  Peter.  On  January  15,  1762,  the 
Baron  de  Breteuil  wrote  to  the  Due  de  Choiseul — 

‘ The  Empress  is  in  the  cruellest  state  and 
treated  with  the  most  marked  contempt.  I have 
told  you  how  she  endeavoured  to  fortify  herself 
with  philosophy,  and  how  little  this  food  consorts 
with  her  disposition.  I now  know,  for  certain, 
that  she  is  already  much  put  out  by  the  way  in 
which  the  Emperor  treats  her,  and  by  the  airs  of 
Mile,  de  Vorontsof  P should  not  be  surprised, 
knowing  her  courage  and  violence,  if  this  were 
to  drive  her  to  some  extremity.  I know  that 
some  of  her  friends  are  doing  their  best  to  pacify 
her,  but  they  would  risk  everything  for  her,  if  she 
required  it.’ 

^ In  the  month  of  April,  when  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  the  new  palace  which  had  just  been 
finished,  Peter  occupied  one  of  the  wings,  and 
assigned  to  his  wife  apartments  at  the  other 
extremity.  Close  to  him  was  lodged  Elizajjetl^ 
Vorontsof.  From  a certain  point  of  view  tins 
arrangement  was  quite  agreeable  to  Catherine  ; it 
gave  her  more  liberty,  and  she  needed  it  in  every 
way  : she  was  once  more  enceinte,  and,  this  time, 
without  the  slightest  possibility  of  assigning  the  ; 
paternity  to  the  Emperor.  It  was  nonetheless  , 
a visible  sign  of  the  contemptuous  treatment 
which  the  Baron  de  Breteuil  speaks  of,  and  the 
official  recognition,  so  to  speak,  of  a state  of 
things  difficult  to  tolerate.  Peter  constantly 
subjected  her  to  the  most  gross  and  offensive 
treatment,  the  most  paltry  and  cruel  bickerings. 
One  day,  as  he  was  supping  with  his  mistress,  he 
sent  for  Count  Hordt,  who  was  with  the  Empress. 
The  Swede,  not  daring  to  say  to  Catherine  where 


/ 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


i6s 


he  was  wanted,  declined  the  invitation.  There- 
upon Peter  arrived  himself,  announcing  brutally 
to  the  Count  that  they  were  waiting  for  him  at 
the  Vorontsof’s,  and  that  he  must  make  up  his 
mind  to  come.  Another  day,  having  discovered 
that  the  Empress  was  very  fond  of  fruit,  he 
ordered  that  none  should  be  served  at  table. 
From  time  to  time  he  had  fits  of  jealousy. 
Catherine,  according  to  the  general  custom  of 
the  time,  even  among  young  and  pretty  women, 
took  snuff.  She  acquired  the  habit  at  an  early  ^ 
age,  and  clung  to  it  all  her  life.  Sergius  Galitzifm^ 
relates  that  she  had  to  give  up  snuff-taking,  by 
the  Emperor’s  command,  because  she  had  once 
asked  his  (Sergius’s)  father  for  a pinch  of  snuff. 
The  scene  is  well  known  in  which  the  Emperor 
apostrophised  the  Empress  in  public,  and  flung  at 
her  head  a gross  insult.  It  was  the  21st  of  June 
1762,  at  a dinner  of  four  hundred  people,  the 
dignitaries  of  the  three  first  orders  and  the  foreign 
ministers,  on  the  occasion  of  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty  of  peace  with  Prussia.  The  Empress 
was  seated  in  her  usual  place  in  the  middle  of 
the  table.  The  Emperor,  having  on  his  right 
the  Baron  von  Goltz,  was  seated  at  one  end. 
Before  drinking  the  health  of  Frederick,  the 
Emperor  proposed  that  of  the  imperial  family. 
Scarcely  had  the  Empress  set  down  her  glass, 
when  he  sent  his  aide-de-camp,  Goudowitch,  to 
know  why  she  had  not  risen  to  do  honour  to  the 
toast.  She  replied  that  as  the  imperial  family 
consisted  only  of  the  Emperor,  herself,  and  her 
son,  she  had  not  thought  it  necessary.  Peter 
immediately  sent  back  Goudowitch,  with  orders 
to  tell  the  Empress  that  she  was  a fool  [doiira^^y 


i66 


CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 


and  that  she  ought  to  know  that  the  two  Princes 
of  Holstein,  his  uncles,  formed  part  of  the  im- 
perial family.  And,  fearing  no  doubt  that  Goudo- 
witch  would  not  execute  his  commission  faithfully, 
he  himself  shouted  ‘ Doura ! ’ across  the  table, 
addressing  the  compliment  to  the  one  for  whom 
it  was  intended.  Every  one  heard  the  word. 
Tears  started  from  Catherine’s  eyes. 

These  were  but  insults.  Peter  had  the  folly 
of  adding  threats.  The  same  day,  the  Freiline 
Vorontsof  received  the  order  of  St.  Catherine, 
which  was  habitually  reserved  to  princesses  of 
the  blood-royal.  Catherine  herself  had  only  had 
it  after  having  been  officially  designated  as  the 
fiancde  of  the  future  Emperor.  It  even  appears 
that  on  leaving  the  table,  drunk  as  usual,  Peter 
gave  the  order  to  Prince  Bariatinski  to  arrest  the 
* Empress,  and  only  the  entreaties  of  Prince 
George  of  Holstein  persuaded  him  to  revoke  his 
decision.  But  it  was  matter  of  general  belief 
that,  urged  on  by  the  Vorontsofs,  he  would  pro- 
ceed to  this  extremity.  Catherine  would  be  shut 
up  in  a convent,  Paul  thrown  into  prison,  and 
the  favourite  legally  married.  She  had  certainly 
gained  an  absolute  hold  over  him.  She  was 
just  the  mistress  for  this  imperial  puppet,  half 
_German  corporal.  She  was  not  pretty ; ‘ ugly, 
~?ommon,  and  stupid,’  says  Masson.  The  Ger- 
man Scherer,  who  has  only  praises  for  Peter, 
admits  that  he  gave  evidence,  in  his  choice  of  a 
companion,  of  deplorable  taste — the  only  fault,  in 
his  eyes,  that  is  to  be  found  in  him.  She  was 
worthless  and  without  education.  ‘ She  swore 
like  a trooper,  squinted,  and  spat  while  talking.’ 
It  seems  that  she  sometimes  beat  the  Emperor, 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


167 


but  she  got  drunk  with  him,  which  was  some 
compensation.  It  is  reported  that  at  the  very 
moment  of  the  revolution,  which  hurled  down 
Peter  and  his  mistress,  the  manifesto  destined  to 
remove  Catherine  from  the  throne,  and  to  set  up 
the  Vorontsof  in  her  place,  was  made  out,  and 
ready  to  be  published  to  the  world. 

Thus  did  Catherine  find  herself  face  to  face 
with  a dilemma,  of  which  both  ways  indicated  a 
terrible  risk  to  run,  with  this  difference,  that 
there  was  nothing  to  gain  on  one  side  and 
not  much  to  lose  on  the  other.  She  made  hej^T 
choice  in  consequence. 


Ill 

The  history  of  the  conspiracy  of  1762,  which 
cost  the  throne  and  the  life  of  Peter  III.,  has 
yet  to  be  written,  and,  up  to  the  present,  suffi- 
ciently authentic  and  definite  documents  for  the 
historian  are  lacking.  Rulhiere  seems  to  be 
utterly  mistaken  in  regard  to  the  part  played  by 
Panine  and  the  Princess  Dachkof  in  bringing 
about  this  event.  According  to  him  they  did 
little  or  nothing.  Nevertheless,  according  to 
him,  it  is  the  Princess  Dachkof  who  began,  by 
sacrificing  her  virtue  in  order  to  win  over  Panine, 
who  was  himself  little  disposed  to  run  the  risk.  It 
must  be  added  that  the  scruples  of  the  Princess 
were  owing  mainly  to  her  belief  that  a very  near 
relationship  existed  between  her  and  the  man 
whose  homage  she  at  first  repulsed.  She 
thought  she  was  his  daughter.  An  obscure 
intermediary,  the  Piedmontese  Odard,  afterwards 
secretary  to  Catherine,  persuaded  her  out  of  this 


i68 


CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 


notion,  and  after  that  the  two  lovers  were  soon 
in  agreement.  Unhappily  they  were  not  from 
the  first  in  agreement  with  Catherijie  as  to  the 
end  towards  which  their  efforts  were  to  tend. 
The  Princess’s  reading,  the  residence  of  Panine 
at  Stockholm,  had  imbued  them  both  with 
republican  ideas.  They  would  not  give  the 
power  to  Catherine  save  on  certain  conditions. 
Catherine  declined  any  sort  of  compromise,  and, 
having  the  Orlofs  under  her  hand,  seemed  dis- 
posed to  go  without  the  services  which  were 
offered  her  at  such  a price.  They  therefore 
decided  to  work  independently  towards  the  dis- 
lodgment  of  Peter,  waiting  on  the  event  to  see 
how  he  should  be  replaced.  It  was  an  instance 
of  the  ‘parallel  action,’  of  which  recent  events 
”n^ave  given  rise  to  further  instances.  '^Princess 
Dachkof  and  Panine  recruited  partisans  among 
the  high  officers  of  the  army,  stooping  sometimes 
to  the  very  soldiers.  The  Orlofs  worked  among 
the  soldiers,  and  made  several  tentatives  among 
the  chiefs.  Sometimes  they  met  one  another  in 
the  barracks,  and,  not  being  mutually  acquainted, 
looked  upon  one  another  with  suspicion.  At 
length  Catherine  succeeded  in  uniting  the  two 
intrigues,  and  took  the  direction  of  the  move- 
ment into  her  own  hands. 

Such  is  the  account  of  Rulhiere.  Convincing 
as  it  has  seemed  to-day  to  the  most  intelligent 
writers,  it  is  easy  to  find  in  it  grave  objections. 
The  portrait  that  Diderot,  who  afterwards  knew 
the  Princess  Dachkof  at  Paris,  has  left  of  this 
beauty,  is  one  : — 

‘ The  Princess  is  by  no  means  beautiful ; she  is 
small ; her  forehead  is  high  and  broad,  she  has 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


169 

fat  puffy  cheeks,  eyes  neither  large  nor  small,  a 
little  deeply  set  in  their  sockets,  black  eyes  and 
eyelashes,  a flat  nose,  a large  mouth,  thick  lips, 
bad  teeth,  a round,  straight  throat  of  the  national 
shape,  the  chest  convex,  no  figure,  promptitude 
in  her  movements,  few  graces,  nothing  im- 
posing.’ 

She  seems,  certainly,  to  have  exercised  a 
certain  influence,  due  perhaps  to  the  vivacity  of 
her  character,  on  the  indolent  spirit  of  the  future 
minister  of  Catherine  ; that  she  can  have  had  the 
power  to  rid  him  not  only  of  his  indolence,  but 
also  of  his  habitual  prudence,  to  the  point  of 
implicating  him  in  an  enterprise  of  which  he  was 
well  able  to  appreciate  all  the  danger,  seems  to 
us  more  than  doubtful.  That  on  her  side  Cathe- 
rine should  have  put  her  interests,  her  destiny 
and  that  of  her  son,  her  ambition,  and  her  very 
life,  into  the  hands  of  this  conspiratress  of 
eighteen,  is  what  we  find  the  greatest  diffi-  ^ 
culty  in  admitting  as  possiblef^  The  Princess, 
too,  has  told  us  in  her  memoirs  the  manner  in 
which  her  first  advances  were  received.  It  was 
a little  before  the  death  of  Elizabeth.  One 
winter  evening,  towards  midnight,  the  Grand 
Duchess,  who  had  already  gone  to  bed,  saw  her 
friend  appear,  trembling  with  fright  or  cold,  and 
entreating  her  to  confide  in  her,  in  view  of  the 
dangers  which  surrounded  her.  She  desired  to 
know  what  was  the  plan  of  the  future  Empress, 
and  what  instructions  she  had  to  give  her. 
Catherine  first  of  all  did  her  best  to  keep  this 
intrepid  adventuress  from  catching  cold.  She 
made  her  lie  down  by  her  side,  covered  her  up 
with  the  bedclothes,  and  then  gently  advised  her 

12 


170  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

to  return  to  her  own  bed  and  not  be  frightened. 
She  had  no  plan,  and  she  put  her  trust  in 
Providence. 

In  reality  no  one,  among  those  who  were 
most  concerned  in  foreseeing  the  great  event, 
had  any  suspicion  of  its  approach,  or  saw  it 
coming.  Who  could  pay  any  attention  to  the 
obscure  and  unmethodical  machinations  of  a few 
hare-brained  creatures  ? According  to  one  of 
the  versions  that  we  owe  to  the  Princess  Dach- 
kof,  the  very  conspirators  themselves  had  no 
better  view  of  things : ‘The  affair  was  well 
forward  before  she,  or  the  Empress,  or  any  one 
at  all,  was  aware  of  it.  Three  hours  before  the 

V revolution  there  was  not  a soul  who  expected  it 
in  less  than  three  years.’ 

i At  all  events  it  seems  that,  up  to  the  last 

Vv  moment,  there  was  no  settled  plan,  nor  even  any 
very  definite  idea,  on  the  part  of  any  one,  as  to 
the  course  to  be  followed  and  the  methods  to  be 
used  in  attaining  the  end  in  view.  How  was 
Peter  to  be  dethroned  and  Catherine  set  in  his 
place  ? No  one  knew.  *'T\ccording  to  Odard’s 
confidences  to  Bdranger,  several  attempts  were 
made,  without  success,  to  seize  the  Emperor. 
As  far  as  one  can  judge,  they  went  forward  at 
hazard.  The  Princess  Dachkof,  so  much  is 
probable,  spoke  to  some  officers.  There  was,  it 
is  certain,  a whole  propaganda,  a work  of  cor- 
rupting and  tampering,  carried  on  in  the  barracks 
''Z  by  the  brothers  Orlof  on  a wide  scale.  Money 
was  not  lacking,  even  before  the  tentative  finally 
made  upon  the  Baron  de  Breteuil.  At  the 
beginning  of  March,  Gregory  Orlof  occupied  the 
post  of  paying  officer  to  the  artillery.  The 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE  171 

grand  master  of  artillery,  the  luckless  lover  of 
the  Princess  Kourakine,  had  just  died,  and  had 
been  succeeded  by  a former  chamberlain  of  the 
young  court,  who  had  been  removed  from  his 
post  by  Elizabeth  on  account  of  his  excessive 
devotion  to  Catherine — the  Frenchman  Villebois. 
Villebois  was  the  son  of  a page  of  Peter  I.,  who 
had  afterwards  been  made  vice-admiral.  '^It  was 
written  that  a Frenchman  once  again  should 
play  an  important  part  in  the  coup  dPtat  destined 
to  give  a new  ruler  to  Russia,  and  that  La 
Chetardie  should  have  a successor.  It  is  pro- 
bable, indeed,  that  the  choice  of  Gregory  Orlof 
was  due  to  the  personal  intervention  of  the  new 
grand  master,  inspired,  no  doubt,  by  Catherine 
herself  Nothing  seemed  to  point  out  the  young 
officer  as  a suitable  person  for  such  a post  of 
confidence.  One  might  as  well  have  put  the 
cash-box  on  deposit  in  the  cave  of  Ali-Baba. 
The  second  in  command  under  Villebois,  Lieu- 
tenant-General Pournour,  made  the  observation. 
He  was  informed  that  Orlof  was  protected  by 
the  Empress,  and  he  bowed.  The  paying 
officer  made  heavy  demands  upon  the  treasury. 
In  this  way  not  less  than  ninety-nine  soldiers  in 
each  regiment  of  the  Guard  had  been  gained 
over — the  Ismailofski  (the  first  before  which 
Elizabeth  had  presented  herself  on  the  day  of 
the  coup  dPtat),  the  Siemienofski,  the  Preobra- 
jenski,  and  the  regiment  of  horse  guards  in  which 
served  the  famous  Patiomkine. 

Catherine  was  sometimes  induced  to  give 
direct  and  personal  aid  to  those  who  were  re- 
cruiting in  her  interests.  She  seems,  neverthe- 
less, to  have  shown  much  restraint  and  discretion 


173 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


in  the  matter.  One  of  the  grenadiers  won  over 
by  Alexis  Orlof,  the  grenadier  Strolof,  required 
a sign  from  the  Empress.  He  was  promised 
that  if  he  would  be  in  the  Czarina’s  way  in  the 
course  of  her  promenade  in  the  park  of  the 
imperial  palace,  he  should  have  this  sign  : her 
Majesty  would  give  him  her  hand  to  kiss. 
Catherine  lent  herself  readily  to  the  plan,  by 
which  she  ran  no  sort  of  risk.  ‘ Everybody 
kisses  my  hand,’  she  said,  later  on,  to  Chrapo- 
wicki.  But  the  brave  soldier  was  moved  to 
the  depths  of  his  soul.  He  shed  tears  as  he 
bent  over  the  imperial  hand,  and  asked  no 
further  conviction. 

_.p^he  last  to  be  convinced,  in  this  conspiracy, 
would  seem  to  have  been  Catherine  herself.  In 
the  account  that  she  is  supposed  to  have  written 
of  this  period  of  her  life,  she  states  that  she 
refused  to  lend  an  ear  to  the  proposals  that  were 
made  to  her  from  the  time  of  Elizabeth’s  death, 
until,  after  having  publicly  insulted  her,  Peter 
carried  his  spite  and  extravagance  to  the  point  of 
wishing  to  have  her  arrested.  The  incident,  as 
we  know,  happened  on  the  21st  of  June,  that 
^ to  say,  only  a few  weeks  before  the  coup  d'etat. 
^ut  even  then,  and  up  to  the  time  of  the 
coup  d'etat  itself,  no  active  part  is  known  to 
have  been  taken  by  the  future  Empress  in  the 
operations  of  her  friends.  *^Ier  part,  up  to  the 
last  moment,  would  seem  to  have  been  a part 
of  attitude  and  bearing  alone.  ^In  this  respect 
she  was  admirable.  The  art  with  which  she 
always  continued  to  take  the  opposite  side  to 
her  husband,  and  tone  down  whatever  was 
offensive  in  his  conduct  by  some  counterpart 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE  173 

exaggeration  of  behaviour,  places  her  among  the 
finest  political  actresses  of  all  tim^  The  death 
of  Elizabeth,  and  the  complication  of  ceremonies 
which  arose  from  the  clashing  of  the  rites  of  the 
Greek  Church  with  the  court  etiquette  over  the 
mortal  remains  of  the  Empress,  provided  a fresh 
occasion  for  the  new  Emperor  to  display  the 
singularity  and  churlishness  of  his  disposition. 
He  did  not  fail  to  take  it,  showing  himself 
indecorous  to  excess.  Catherine  protested,  and 
won  the  admiration  and  sympathy  of  all  by  her 
manifestations  of  respect  and  filial  piety. 

‘No  one,’  wrote  the  Baron  de  Breteuil,  ‘has 
been  more  assiduous  in  carrying  out  the  late 
Empress’s  funeral  rites,  which,  according  to  the 
Greek  Church,  are  numerous  and  most  super- 
stitious, and  at  which  she  must  certainly  laugh 
in  her  sleeve,  but  the  clergy  and  the  people 
believe  her  to  be  deeply  affected,  and  are  highly 
delighted.’ 

There  is  a portrait  of  her  in  the  morning 
dress  which  she  always  wore  at  this  time.  She 
observed  carefully  all  the  religious  ceremonies, 
fasts,  jotirs  maigres,  holidays,  everything  for 
which  Peter  affected  the  most  absolute  contempt. 
At  a solemn  mass,  sung  in  the  chapel  of  the 
palace,  on  the  occasion  of  Trinity  Sunday,  the 
Austrian  ambassador  was  amazed  to  see  the 
Emperor  walking  unceremoniously  about  the  holy 
edifice,  and  talking  aloud  during  the  service  with 
the  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  court,  while 
the  Empress,  motionless  in  her  place,  appeared 
buried  in  her  prayersf^ 

Peter,  growing  more  and  more  violent  as  time 
went  on,  forgot  himself  to  the  extent  of  inflicting 


174  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

manual  correction  upon  the  members  of  his  im- 
mediate retinue,  upon  high  dignitaries,  upon  his 
most  devoted  followers,  in  public,  before  the 
assembled  court.  Narychkine,  Mielgounof,  Vol- 
kof,  had  in  turn  to  suffer  these  indignities. 
“Catherine  was  sweetness  itself.  All  who  came 
near  her  united  in  praise  of  her  affability,  her 
Evenness  of  temper,  her  good  graces.  To  the 
brutalities  of  the  Emperor,  of  which  she  was 
herself  one  of  the  victims,  she  gently  opposed 
the  most  dignified  deportment,  well  made  to 
inspire  sympathy,  without  allowing  sympathy 
to  degenerate  into  pity  and  disesteem.  At  the 
famous  banquet  where  the  Emperor  flung  at  her 
the  word  ‘ Fool ! ’ she  let  some  tears  be  seen,  just 
enough  to  touch  the  hearts  of  those  who  wit- 
nessed the  painful  scene ; then,  turning  immedi- 
ately to  Count  Strogonof,  who  was  standing 
behind  her  chair,  she  begged  him  to  tell  her 
something  merry,  to  make  her  laugh  and  dis- 
tract people’s  attention^^ 

"jTt  one  moment  she  carried  her  science  of 
dissimulation  so  far  as  to  become  amiable 
and  considerate  for  Peter  himself.  The  diplo- 
matic correspondence  notifies  an  unexpected  re- 
conciliation of  husband  and  wife.  The  Empress 
appeared,  smiling  and  gracious,  at  the  Emperor’s 
suppers,  in  the  midst  of  orgies  of  beer  and 
tobacco.  She  endured  stoically  the  odour  of 
pipes,  the  heavy  German  drunkenness,  the  low 
talk  of  drinkers.  It  was  the  critical  moment. 
Catherine,  as  we  have  said,  was  enceinte.  She 
had  need  to  hide  the  fact  from  all  eyes,  and 
especially  from  the  eyes  of  the  Emperor.  There 
is  a story  that  on  the  day  when  she  was  taken 


THE  FIGHT  FOR  THE  THRONE 


75 


•Vi 


with  the  pang’s  of  childbirth,  her  faithful  valet 
de  chambre,  Chkourine,  set  fire  to  a house  be- 
longing to  him  in  one  of  the  suburbs  of  the  city, 
in  order  to  attract  the  curious  in  that  direction. 
Peter  ran  off  there,  naturally,  to  enjoy  the  sight, 
and  distribute  insults  and  blows  of  his  cane. 
His  favourites  followed.  Catherine  gave  birth, 
on  the  23rd  April,  to  a son,  who  took  the  name 
of  ^obrinski,  and  became  the  founder  of  one  of 
ilthe  most  important  families  in  Russia.  We 
shall  meet  him  again  later  on.  It  was  at  this 
time  that,  a courtier  complimenting  the  Empress 
on  looking  so  well,  and  bringing  such  a ray  of 
beauty  into  the  company,  she  could  not  resist 
saying:  ‘You  have  no  idea  how  much  it  some- 
times costs  me  to  look  well.’ 

But  where  was  all  this  to  lead  ? She  little 
knew,  in  all  probability.  A day  would  come, 
no  doubt,  when  the  subterranean  labour  of  her 
friends  would  come  to  the  light  of  day,  bringing 
with  it  an  explosion ; when  the  extravagances 
of  her  husband  would  come  to  a crisis  : then  it 
would  be  time  for  her  to  act.  Then  she  would 
act.  Meanwhile,  as  she  had  said  to  Princess 
Dachkof,  she  put  her  trust  in  Providence. 
According  to  Frederick,  it  was  the  best  she 
could  have  done.  ‘ She  could  not  yet  carry 
anything  through,’  he  said  afterwards,  recalling 
these  times ; ‘ she  threw  herself  into  the  arms 
of  those  who  were  ready  to  save  her.’  That 
ability  in  the  conduct  of  affairs,  that  sureness 
of  vision,  that  prudence  and  dexterity  needed 
to  pull  through  an  enterprise  of  this  sort,  were 
never  specially  in  her  line.  *Tt  was  in  her  tempera- 
ment that  her  true  superiority  was  to  be  found. 


176 


CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


by  that  that  she  really  shone.  It  was  on  this 
account  that  she  had  always  to  rely  principally, 
as  she  did  all  her  life,  on  that  superior  and 
mysterious  force  that  she  invoked  in  speaking 
to  the  Princess  Dachkof,  and  whose  might 
Frederick  himself  did  not  deny,  irreverently 
calling  it  ‘His  Sacred  Majesty  Chance.’  To 
abandon  herself  to  Orlof,  as  she  did  now,  or  to 
Patiomkine,  as  she  did  later,  was  really,  properly 
speaking,  nothing  else.  Chance  brought  good 
luck  with  Orlof,  good  luck,  and  perhaps  genius, 
with  Patiomkine,  disaster  with  Zoubof.  But 
Catherine  still  remained  great.  For  the  moment, 
chance  gave  her  the  victory.  Chance  did  not, 
however,  act  alone ; but  rather  with  the  aid  of 
the  man  most  interested  in  bringing  the  enter- 
prise to  nought.  ‘He  let  himself  be  dethroned 

V as  a child  lets  himself  be  sent  to  bed,’  said 

V Frederick,  speaking  of  Peter  HI. 


CHAPTER 


I I I 


THE  VICTORY 


I 

Peter  left  St.  Petersburg  June  24th  for  Or- 
anienbaum.  On  the  22  nd  there  was  a supper 
at  which  500  guests  sat  down,  and  there  were 
fireworks  after  the  supper  in  honour  of  the  peace 
with  Prussia.  On  the  23rd  the  feasUng' "still 
continued,  and  it  continued  afterwards  at  Or- 
anienbaum  with  a smaller  number  of  guests.  The 


THE  VICTORY 


177 


sojourn  of  the  Emperor  in  his  summer  residence 
was  to  be  of  short  duration.  Peter  intended 
shortly  to  rejoin  his  army  in  Pomerania  and  put 
to  flight  the  Danes,  until  he  had  the  chance  of 
making  his  name  glorious  on  some  vaster  battle- 
field, whither  his  new  ally  should  summon  him. 
He  meant  to  embark  at  the  end  of  July.  The 
fleet,  reduced  by  sickness,  was  not  really  in  con- 
dition to  set  sail.  Peter  was  not  at  a loss.  He 
signed  a ukase  ordering  the  sick  sailors  to  get 
well. 

These  warlike  projects  caused  some  anxiety  to>' 
his  friends,  beginning  with  Frederick  himself. 
His  Prussian  Majesty’s  envoys,  the  Baron  von 
Goltz  and  Count  Schwerin,  had  not  failed  to 
remonstrate  with  him  on  the  subject.  Was  it 
prudent  for  the  Emperor  to  leave  his  capital 
and  his  empire  before  allowing  himself  time  to 
establish  himself  upon  his  throne,  before  even 
having  been  crowned  ? Frederick  insisted  per- 
sonally on  this  last  point.  Before  undertaking 
any  enterprise,  he  should  go  to  Moscow  and 
assume  the  diadem  of  the  Czar.  In  a country 
like  Russia  this  question  of  form  was  of  immense 
importance.  Peter  would  listen  to  nothing. 

‘ One  is  sure  of  the  Russians  when  one  knows . 
how  to  take  them,’  he  said.  He  imagined  that 
he  had  this  knowledge. 

He  imagined  also  that  he  had  his  eye  upon 
the  possible  conspirators.  The  two  Orlofs  had 
been  pointed  out  to  him.  One  of  their  friends. 
Lieutenant  Perfilef,  put  himself  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Czar,  and  undertook  to  spy  on  the  five 
brothers,  and  play  them  into  his  hands.  It  was 
he  himself  who  played  into  their  hands.  The 


178 


CATHERINE  11.  OE  RUSSIA 


Orlofs  were  distrustful  of  him,  and  at  the  last 
-smoment  made  merry  over  the  confident  traitor. 

On  June  29th,  Catherine,  whom  Peter  had  had"^ 
the  imprudence  to  leave  behind  at  St.  Petersburg, 
had  herself  to  take  up  her  summer  quarters. 
She  received  orders  to  go  to  Peterhof.  At 
Oranienbaum  it  was  Elizabeth  Vorontsof  who 
reigned.  Paul  remained  at  St.  Petersburg  under 
the  care  of  Panine.  Peter  nevertheless  counted 
on  seeing  his  wife  before  setting  out  on  the  pro- 
posed campaign.  He  had  put  off  the  date  of  his 
departure  in  order  to  celebrate  the  loth  of  July 
(29th  June),  his  feast-day.  He  meant  to  cele- 
brate it  at,  I’eterhof  On  the  morning  of  the  9th 
he  set  out  for  the  palace,  where  a grand  dinner 
was  to  be  given  in  his  honour  by  the  Empress 
on  the  following  day.  Peter  travelled  slowly, 
taking  a large  following  after  him,  among  which 
were  seventeen  ladies.  He  did  not  arrive  at 
Peterhof  till  two  o’clock.  A surprise  was  await- 
ing him  ; the  chateau  was  empty.  Peter  found 
only  a few  servants  overcome  with  terror. 

‘And  the  Empress?’ 

‘ Gone ! ’ 

■*  Where  ? ’ 

No  one  knew,  or  no  one  would  answer.  A 
peasant  approached  and  handed  a paper  to  the 
Emperor.  It  was  a letter  from  Bressan,  the  former 
Erench  valet  of  Peter,  whom  he  had  appointed 
to  the  supervision  of  the  manufacture  of  Gobelins. 
Bressan  wrote  that  the  Empress  had  arrived  at 
St.  Petersburg  that  morning,  and  had  been  pro- 
claimed sole  and  absolute  sovereign.  Peter 
could  not  believe  his  eyes.  He  rushed  like  a 
madman  through  the  empty  rooms,  hunted  in 


THE  VICTORY 


»79 


every  corner,  and  all  through  the  gardens,  calling 
the  Empress  again  and  again.  The  crowd  of 
frightened  courtiers  followed  him  in  his  useless 
search.  They  had  at  last  to  give  in  to  the 
evidence  of  their  own  eyes. 

What  had  happened.?  No  one  has  ever  quite 
known.  The  uncertainties  and  contradictionswhich 
have  already  embarrassed  us  in  the  course  of  our 
narrative  confront  us  once  more  at  this  juncture. 
The  narrative  of  Princess  Dachkof  seems  in 
many  respects  dubious,  and  that  of  Catherine 
does  not  bear  examination.  On  the  night  of  the 
8th  or  9th  July  Catherine’s  friend  appears  to 
have  been,  awakened  by  one  of  the  Orlofs,  with 
the  news  of  the  arrest  of  one  of  the  conspirators. 
Captain  Passek.  It  meant  the  discovery  of  the 
plot  and  the  certain  ruin  of  all  who  had  taken 
part  in  it.  Princess  Dachkof  did  not  hesitate. 
She  gave  orders  to  give  the  immediate  alarm  to 
the  Ismailofski  regiment,  that  of  which  they 
were  most  certain ; to  prepare  it  to  receive  the 
Empress ; and  at  the  same  time  to  send  for  her 
to  Peterhof.  It  was  done.  There  was,  never- 
theless, a certain  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the 
Orlofs.  The  youngest  brother,  Theodore,  came 
back  a few  hours  afterwards  to  submit  their 
objections  to  the  Princess.  Was  it  not  too  soon 
to  venture  on  so  bold  a stroke  ? She  declared 
angrily  that  they  had  wasted  too  much  time 
already.  He  bowed  to  her  will,  and  all  obeyed. 
That  is  the  friend’s  version.  Catherine’s  is  quite 
different.  A few  years  afterwards  she  was 
greatly  wroth  with  Ivan  Chouvalof,  ‘ the  basest 
and  most  cowardly  of  men,’  who  has  dared  to 
write  to  Voltaire  ‘ that  a girl  of  nineteen  had 


i8o  CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

changed  the  government  of  Russia.’  Most  as- 
suredly, she  declares,  the  Orlofs  had  something 
else  to  do  than  to  put  themselves  at  the  com- 
mand of  a little  scatter-brain.  To  the  last 
moment,  on  the  contrary  ‘ she  was  kept  from 
knowing  the  most  essential  part  of  this  affair.’ 
Everything  was  done  under  the  ‘ quite  personal  ’ 
direction  of  Catherine,  and  of  Catherine  alone, 
4 in  consequence  of  plans  which  had  been  made 
and  agreed  upon  ‘ six  months  before,’  between 
her  and  the  heads  of  the  conspiracy.  Six  months 
before  ! Is  this  really  true  ? Has  not  Catherine 
herself  said  elsewhere  that  she  paid  no  heed  to 
the  proposals  for  the  dethronement  of  her  hus- 
band till  after  she  had  been  publicly  insulted 
by  him — that  is  to  say,  only  three  weeks  before 
the  9th  of  July  ? 

It  is  all  very  uncertain.  Quarrels  between 
jealous  women  usually  are.  Moreover,  both  may 
have  spoken  In  good  faith,  recalling  as  they  did, 
so  long  afterwards,  memories  blurred  with  mists 
of  emotion,  and  attributing  to  themselves  an 
imaginary  part  in  the  events  that  they  both 
imagined  they  had  conducted,  and  by  which  they 
were  both  most  likely  conducted  themselves.  It 
is  probable  that  the  arrest  of  Passek,  due,  as  it 
seems,  to  a mere  accident,  hastened  things  on, 
and  decided  the  conspirators  to  risk  everything 
in  order  to  save  their  lives,  which  they  saw  to  be 
in  danger.  It  is  certain  that,  on  the  9th  of  July, 
at  five  o’clock  in  the  morning,  Alexis  Orlof  pre- 
sented himself  suddenly  at  Peterhof,  and  brought 
the  Empress  back  to  St.  Petersburg. 

Catherine  was  sound  asleep — it  is  she  who 
gives  us  this  detail — when  the  young  officer 


THE  VICTORY  i8i 

entered  her  room.  Nothing  had  yet  been 
decided  on,  and  she  was  riot  prepared  for  any- 
thing. To  understand  the  scene  which  followed, 
according  to  her  own  story  of  it,  one  must  have 
come  in  contact  with  primitive  natures  like  that 
of  this  Orlof.  One  meets  many  like  them 
to-day  in  Russia.  The  thought  of  such  folk 
being  utterly  without  any  complication,  their 
expression  of  this  thought  is  always  simple. 
The  art  of  preparation  is  unknown  to  them, 
and  all  the  fine  shades.  They  say  exactly  what 
they  have  to  say,  going  straight  to  the  point. 
They  say  in  the  same  manner  and  with  the 
same  tone  the  most  commonplace  or  the  most 
startling  of  things.  They  speak  always  in 
monochord.  If  the  moon  were  to  fall  from 
the  sky,  a peasant  near  Moscow  would  say  to 
you,  ‘ The  moon  has  fallen,’  in  the  same  tone 
as  he  would  tell  you  that  his  cow  had  had  a 
calf.  Alexis  Orlof  simply  woke  the  Empress 
and  said  to  her:  ‘It  is  time  to  get  up.  Every- 
thing is  ready  for  your  proclamation.’ 

She  asked  for  explanations.  He  said,  ‘ Passek^ 
is  arrested.  You  must  come.’  That  was  all. 
She  dressed  herself  hurriedly,  without  ‘ making 
a toilette,’  and  jumped  into  the  coach  that  had 
brought  Orlof.  One  of  her  women,  the  Charo- 
grodskaia,  took  her  place  by  her  side,  Orlof 
mounted  in  front,  the  faithful  Chkourine  behind, 
and  the  vehicle  set  out  at  headlong  speed  for 
St.  Petersburg.  On  the  way  they  met  Michel, 
the  French  coiffeur  of  her  Majesty,  who  was  as 
usual  on  his  way  to  wait  upon  her.  He  was 
taken  along. 

There  were  nearly  20  miles  to  cover,  and  the 


1 82  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

horses,  which  had  already  done  the  distance 
one  way,  were  scarcely  able  to  start  on  the 
return  journey.  No  one  had  thought  of  or- 
ganising a relay.  This  negligence  was  near 
costing  them  dear.  Two  horses  from  a passing 
peasant’s  cart  perhaps  saved  Catherine,  and  won 
for  her  a crown.  Five  versts  outside  the  town 
they  met  Gregory  Orlof  and  Prince  Bariatinski, 
in  a state  of  great  anxiety ; they  changed  from 
the  one  coach  to  the  other,  and  arrived  at  last 
before  the  barracks  of  the  Isma'ilofski  regiment. 

‘Thus,’  writes  Rulhiere,  ‘to  reign  despotically 
over  the  vastest  empire  in  the  world,  arrived 
Catherine,  between  six  and  seven  in  the  morn- 
ing, having  set  out  on  the  word  of  a soldier, 
brought  by  peasants,  conducted  by  her  lover,  and 
accompanied  by  her  lady’s  maid  and  her  coiffeur' 

Only  a dozen  men  were  there.  In  reality, 
nothing  had  been  seriously  prepared,  notwith- 
standing what  Alexis  Orlof  had  said.  Drums 
were  beaten.  Soldiers  half  dressed  and  half 
asleep  came  tumbling  out.  They  were  told  to 
shout  ‘ Long  live  the  Empress  ! ’ They  looked 
forward  to  a distribution  of  vodka,  and  shouted 
whatever  was  told  them.  Two  of  them  were 
sent  for  a priest,  whom  they  brought  back 
between  them.  The  priest  also  did  whatever 
he  was  told.  He  raised  the  cross,  mumbled  a 
form  of  oath,  the  soldiers  all  bowed  down  : it 
was  done,  the  Empress  was  proclaimed. 

‘ The  throne  of  Russia  is  neither  hereditary 
nor  elective,’  said  the  Neapolitan  Caraccioli  ; 
‘it  is  occupative.' 

The  proclamation  made  no  mention  of  Paul. 
It  ■ declared  Catherine  sole  and  absolute  and 


nn.  VICTORY 


183 

aristocratic  sovereign  {samodierjsamodierjitsd). 
This  was  not  at  all  what  Panine  had  intended. 
But  where  was  Panine  at  this  hour,  and  who 
troubled  about  Panine  ? 

‘A  pack,’  says  Herzen,  ‘of  oligarchs,  strangers, 
pandours,  and  minions,  brought  by  night  an 
unknown,  a child,  a German,  raised  her  to  the 
throne,  worshipped  her,  and  distributed  kicks 
and  blows  in  her  name  to  all  who  had  anything 
to  say  in  objection.’ 

Of  the  other  regiments  of  the  Guard,  one  only, 
the  Preobrajenski,  made  some  show  of  resist- 
ance. Simon  Vorontsof,  a brother  of  the 
favourite,  who  commanded  a company  in  it, 
would  not  betray  a cause  which  might  pass  for 
that  of  his  sister.  He  was  besides,  as  he 
proved  afterwards,  a man  of  duty  and  honour. 
He  harangued  his  men;  Major  Voie'ikof  sup- 
ported him,  and  the  regiment  marched  resolutely 
against  the  mutineers  who  followed  Catherine. 
The  two  little  armies  met  before  the  church 
of  Our  Lady  of  Kasan.  Catherine  had  on  her 
side  the  superiority  of  numbers,  but  it  was  only 
that  of  a crowd  in  disorder.  The  Preobrajenski 
regiment,  on  the  contrary,  marshalled  by  its 
officers,  and  drawn  up  in  rank,  presented  an 
imposing  front  of  battle ; it  might  yet  decide 
the  issue  of  the  day. 

But  the  fortune  of  Catherine  declared  itself. 
At  the  moment  when  loyalists  and  rebels  came 
to  a standstill  within  a few  paces  from  one 
another,  ready  to  come  to  blows,  one  of  the 
colleagues  of  Simon  Vorontsof,  who  marched 
in  the  ranks,  cried  suddenly : ‘ Oura ! Long 

live  the  Empress ! ’ It  was  a train  of  powder. 


1 84  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

The  whole  regiment  took  up  the  cry  and  dis- 
banded in  an  instant,  the  soldiers  threw  them- 
selves into  the  arms  of  their  comrades,  and  then, 
falling  on  their  knees,  they  asked  pardon  of  the 
Empress  for  not  having  greeted  her  at  once, 
accusing  their  officers.  Voieikof  and  Vorontsof 
broke  their  swords.  They  were  arrested. 
Catherine  afterwards  pardoned  them,  but  she 
never  forgot.  Vorontsof  had  to  quit  the  army, 
where  his  merits  and  his  brilliant  services 
brought  him  nothing  but  vexation.  Appointed 
ambassador  at  London,  he  lived  in  a sort  of 
honourable  exile. 

Every  one  now  crowded  into  the  church  of 
Our  Lady  of  Kasan,  where  Catherine  betook 
herself  to  receive  the  oaths  of  fidelity  of  her 
new  subjects.  Panine  soon  made  his  appear- 
ance. It  is  said  that  in  the  coach  with  him 
was  the  little  Paul,  in  his  nightcap.  The  child 
may  thus  have  been  present  at  his  own  down- 
fall, for  it  was  really  his  downfall,  at  least  pro- 
visionally, which  was  being  consummated.  After 
the  revered  temple  it  was  the  Winter  Palace,  the 
scene  of  so  many  of  Catherine’s  past  humiliations, 
that  saw  her  surrounded  with  a crowd,  hasten- 
ing to  do  homage.  The  senate  and  the  synod 
came  forward  among  the  rest.  These  two  great 
bodies  had  already  made  it  their  habit  to  march 
behind  the  regiments  of  the  Guard.  Another 
personage  came  on  the  scene  whom  Catherine 
had  not  at  all  expected  to  see — the  chancellor 
Vorontsof.  He  was  still  unconscious  of  what 
was  going  forward,  and  naively  demanded  of 
the  Empress  why  she  had  left  Peterhof.  For 
answer,  she  made  sign  that  he  was  to  be 


THE  VICTORY 


185 

brought  along.  He  was  told  to  go  into  the 
church  and  take  the  oath.  He  went  there. 

Lastly,  elbowing  her  way  through  the  crowd, 
all  out  of  breath,  agitated,  and  somewhat  dis- 
appointed, arrived  the  pretended  organiser  of 
all  this  triumph — the  Princess  Dachkof.  Her 
coach  had  not  been' able  to  get  as  far  as  the  steps 
of  the  palace,  but,  according  to  her  account,  the 
heroes  of  the  day,  the  officers  and  soldiers  who 
surrounded  the  entrance,  raised  her  on  their 
shoulders  and  brought  her  in.  Her  dress  and 
her  coiffure  had  to  suffer,  but  her  self-esteem 
found  a compensation  for  the  mortifications  which 
were  soon  to  begin  for  her.  For  her  interview 
with  the  Empress  was  briefer  and  less  solemn 
than  she  had  hoped  for.  It  was  not  the  hour 
for  tender  effusions,  nor  for  grand  ceremonies. 
There  was  serious  business  to  be  done.  First  of 
all,  a serious  form  had  to  be  given  to  what  had 
just  been  improvised  in  a burst  of  youthful  energy 
and  victorious  boldness.  A manifesto  was  neces- 
sary. It  was  an  obscure  employ^  from  the 
chancellor’s  office,  Tieplof,  who  was  appointed  to 
draw  it  up.  Why  not  Panine  ? There  are 
various  stories  current  on  this  subject.  Did  the 
tutor  of  the  little  Paul  actually  think  it  apropos, 
even  at  this  moment,  and  had  he  the  courage, 
to  stand  up  for  his  favourite  idea  and  his  pupil  ? 
According  to  one  version,  the  officers  of  the 
Ismailofski  regiment  were  opposed  to  the  signa- 
ture of  a reversal,  binding  Catherine  not  to  reign 
after  the  end  of  Paul’s  minority.  According  to 
another  version,  the  reversal  dictated  by  Panine, 
and  imposed  by  him  upon  the  Empress,  had  been 
signed  and  deposited  in  the  archives  of  the 
13 


i86  CATHERINE  IT.  OF  RUSSIA 

Senate,  but  the  Orlofs,  by  one  account,  the 
chancellor  Vorontsof,  by  another,  had  afterwards 
withdrawn  the  document  and  handed  it  over 
to  CSitherine,  The  story  is  very  improbable. 
Panine  was  not  the  man  to  believe  in  com- 
promises of  this  kind,  and  to  delude  himself  as  to 
the  worth  of  such  a guarantee.  He  knew  the 
history  of  his  country.  The  Empress  Anne  had 
risen  to  the  throne  under  the  security  of  a 
veritable  constitutional  charter.  Six  weeks  after- 
wards nothing  more  was  heard  of  it.  The  future 
minister  might  have  had  other  reasons  for  not 
taking  part  in  the  drawing  up  of  the  manifesto. 

^ What  Tieplof  wrote  was  sent  to  press  and 
read  to  the  people,  who  cried,  ‘ Long  live  the 
Empress ! ’ as  they  had  heard  the  soldiers  cry. 
Catherine  reviewed  the  troops,  who  hailed  her 
once  again ; and  the  new  reign  had  been  estab- 
•^lished:  not  a drop  of  blood  had  been  shed. 
There  were  a few  isolated  scenes  of  disorder. 
The  house  of  Prince  George  of  Holstein  was 
attacked  and  pillaged,  and  he  and  his  wife  were 
somewhat  roughly  handled,  the  rings  of  the 
Princess  being  torn  off  by  the  soldiers.  Some 
shops  were  broken  into,  and  the  soldiers  de- 
manded wine.  One  wine-merchant  lost  4000 
roubles’  worth.  The  indemnities  claimed  by 
the  victims  of  these  excesses  amounted  to  24,000 
roubles,  not  a very  serious  amount.  When  the 
evening  was  come,  and  the  intoxication  of  the 
moment  had  worn  off,  and  Catherine  and  her 
companions,  once  more  in  the  Winter  Palace, 
proceeded  to  review  the  situation,  a certain 
anxiety  began  to  be  felt.  If,  from  one  point  of 
view,  everything  in  regard  to  the  establishment 


THE  VICTORY 


187 


of  the  throne  had  been  done,  from  another,  every- 
thing had  yet  to  be  done.  All  would  count  for 
nothing  if  Peter  were  to  make  a resistance. 

Was  it  within  his  power  to  do  so  ? The  answer 
left  no  room  for  doubt,  and  perhaps  Panine  was 
just  then  considering  it.  Peter  had  with  him 
about  1500  Holsteiners,  an  excellent  body  of 
men,  and  ready,  according  to  all  appearance,  to 
fight  for  him  to  the  last,  especially  as  they 
would  be  fighting  for  themselves  at  the  same 
time.  At  the  head  of  this  little  army  was  the 
first  soldier  of  Russia,  and  one  of  the  first  of  the 
epoch — Field-Marshal  Munich.  Recalled  by  the 
new  Emperor  from  Siberia,  he  would  never  desert 
his  benefactor.  Now  Catherine  herself  had  at 
her  command  only  the  four  regiments  that  had 
proclaimed  her.  The  main  body  of  the  Russian 
force  was  in  Pomerania,  as  yet  belonging  to  no 
one,  or  rather  belonging  to  the  Emperor,  and  at 
his  command.  If  Peter  made  a resistance,  if  he 
gained  time,  if  he  made  the  most  of  the  name 
and  fame  of  his  victorious  marshal,  would  not 
this  Pomeranian  army  obey  his  orders,  and  come 
to  the  rescue  ? He  was  the  Emperor,  and  he 
was  about  to  open  a new  campaign,  a prospect 
generally  agreeable  to  the  soldier,  especially  after 
a series  of  brilliant  successes.  Up  to  the  present 
he  had  only  given  offence  to  the  Guards,  of  whose 
privileges  all  the  rest  of  the  army  was  jealous. 
The  Orlofs,  on  their  side,  had  not  used  their 
influence  beyond  this  point.  The  problem  was 
formidable. 

But  where  was  the  Emperor  at  this  moment, 
and  what  was  he  thinking  about  and  doing? 


i88 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


"i-  II 

After  having  satisfied  himself  that  the  Empress 
was  not  where  he  had  expected  to  find  her,  Peter 
could  not  at  once  admit  the  truth,  or  grasp  the 
whole  extent,  of  his  misfortune.  The  man  in 
> whom  he  placed  his  confidence,  Perfilef,  had  not 
forewarned  him.  The  hapless  Perfilef  had  pass^ 
the  night  playing  at  cards  with  Gregory  Orlof^, 
thinking  to  have  him  thus  under  his  eye.  Peter 
resolved  to  send  for  information.  He  had  plenty 
of  people  about  him.  The  chancellor  Vorontsof, 
Prince  Troubetzkoi,  Alexander  Chouvalof,  offered 
to  go  to  St.  Petersburg.  None  of  them  returned. 
But  a Holsteiner,  returning  from  the  town,  where 
he  had  been  spending  a twenty-four  hours’  leave 
of  absence,  confirmed  the  bad  news.  It  was  now 
three  o’clock.  Peter  made  another  resolution  : 
he  summoned  Volkof,  and  ordered  him  to  draw 
up  several  manifestoes,  by  way  of  beginning  a 
campaign  on  paper.  Nevertheless,  on  the  advice 
of  Munich,  he  decided  to  send  one  of  his  aides- 
de-camp,  Count  Devierre,  to  Kronstadt,  in  order 
to  make  sure  of  this  important  position.  An 
hour  afterwards,  he  remembered  that  he  was  a 
soldier,  put  on  his  field-day  uniform,  and  sent  for 
the  Holstein  troops  that  had  remained  behind  at 
Oranienbaum.  His  intention  was  to  fortify  him- 
self at  ^Peterhof,  and  hold  his  own  against  the 
insurrection.  The  Holsteiners  arrived  at  eight, 
but  Peter  had  changed  his  mind.  Munich  could 
not  answer  for  putting  Peterhof  in  condition  to 
stand  a siege.  He  would  have  preferred  to  go 
to  Kronstadt  instead  of  sending  there.  He  had 


THE  VICTORY 


189 

his  plan.  Suddenly  Peter  wheeled  round,  and 
agreed  with  his  field-marshal.  But  by  this  time 
it  was  night.  They  set  out,  nevertheless ; but, 
one  would  have  thought,  on  a pleasure-party.  A 
yacht  and  a galley  with  oars  took  on  board  the 
Emperor’s  cortege,  masculine  and  feminine.  They 
arrived  in  sight  of  Kronstadt  at  one  o’clock  in 
the  morning. 

‘ Who  goes  there  t ’ cried  a sentinel  from  the 
top  of  the  ramparts. 

‘The  Emperor.’ 

‘ There  is  no  Emperor.  Keep  off!’ 

Count  Devierre  had  been  outstripped  by  an 
envoy  of  Catherine,  Admiral  Talitsine. 

Munich  was  not  yet  disheartened.  He  and 
Goudowitch  entreated  Peter  to  disembark  in 
spite  of  all.  They  would  never  dare  fire  upon 
them  ; of  that  they  were  certain.  But  Peter  was. 
down  in  the  hold,  trembling  in  every  limb.  He 
had  only  had  to  do  with  cardboard  fortresses. 

The  women  uttered  piercing  shrieks.  The 
vessels  were  turned  about. 

Then  Munich  proposed  another  plan  : to  go  on 
to  the  port  of  Reval,  embark  on  a warship,  and 
make  their  way  to  Pomerania,  where  Peter  could 
take  command  of  his  army. 

‘ Do  this,  sire,’  said  the  old  warrior,  ‘and  six 
weeks  afterwards  St.  Petersburg  and  Russia  will 
again  be  at  your  feet.  I answer  for  it  with  my 
head.’ 

But  Peter  had  exhausted  his  whole  stock  of 
energy.  He  thought  only  of  getting  back  to 
Oranienbaum,  and  entering  into  negotiations.  , 
They  returned  to  Oranienbaum.  There  too  ^ 
they  met  with  unexpected  news.  The  Empress 


190  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

had  left  for  St.  Petersburg  at  the  head  of  her 
four  regiments,  and  was  marching  upon  Peter 
and  his  Holsteiners. 

It  was  a triumphal  march.  Catherine  led  the 
troops  on  horseback  wearing  the  uniform  of  the 
grenadiers  of  the  Preobrajenski  regiment.  A 
crown  of  oak-leaves  adorned  her  cap,  with  its 
sable  fur,  and  her  long  hair  floated  in  the  wind. 
By  her  side,  dressed  in  the  same  uniform,  gal- 
loped Princess  Dachkof  The  soldiers  were  in 
ecstasies.  They  had  unanimously  thrown  aside 
the  uniforms  into  which  they  had  been  put  by 
Peter,  tearing  them  to  pieces  or  selling  them  to 
the  second-hand  dealers  ; and  they  had  returned 
to  their  old  garb,  which  Peter  I.  had  imported 
from  Germany,  but  which  passed  already  as 
national.  They  burned  to  measure  arms  with 
the  Holsteiners. 

They  had  not  this  satisfaction.  After  a night’s 
march,  at  five  o’clock  in  the  morning,  a messen- 
ger bearing  a flag  of  truce  arrived  from  Peter.  It 
was  Prince  Alexander  Galitzine.  The  Emperor 
offered  to  divide  the  power  with  the  Empress. 
Catherine  disdained  to  answer.  An  hour  after- 
]lvard,  she  received  the  ' of  abdication  of 
,iier  husband.  She  b eu  at  Peterhof,  whither 
Peter  was  brought.  'L,aine,  who  had  been  de- 
puted to  notify  to  him  the  final  orders  of  the 
Czarina,  found  him  in  the  most  pitiful  state. 
Peter  endeavoured  to  kiss  his  hand,  entreating 
not  to  be  separated  from  his  mistress.  . He  cried 
like  a whipt  child.  The  favourite  crawled  to  the 
knees  of  Catherine’s  envoy ; she  too  begged  to 
be  allowed  to  stay  by  her  lover.  They  were 
separated  none  the  less.  Mile.  Vorontsof  was 


THE  VICTORY 


191 

sent  to  Moscow.  Peter  was  sent  provisionally’ 
to  a house  situated  at  Ropcha,  ‘ a very  lonely  but 
a very  agreeable  spot,’  Catherine  declares,  nearly 
twenty  miles  from  Peterhof,  where  he  was  to 
remain  until  suitable  accommodation  had  been 
found  for  him  in  the  fortress  of  Schlusselburg,  the 
Russian  Bastille. 

On  the  following  day,  July  14,  Catherine  made 
a solemn  entry  into  St.  Petersburg.  She  had 
only  remained  a few  hours  at  Peterhof.  Some- 
thing, however,  had  happened,  besides  the  down- 
fall of  Peter.  Princess  Dachkof  had  made  a 
discovery,  of  which  she  speaks  sadly  enough  in 
her  memoirs,  and  which,  by  the  surprise  it  caused 
her,  proves  that,  for  an  organiser  of  plots,  she 
was  somewhat  simple.  On  entering  the  Em- 
press’s salon  at  the  dinner- hour  she  saw  a man 
stretched  at  full  length  on  a sofa.  It  was  Gregory 
Orlof.  He  had  before  him  a heap  of  sealed  papers 
which  he  was  nonchalantly  proceeding  to  open. 

‘ What  are  you  doing  ? ’ cried  the  Princess, 
recognising,  by  the  aspect  familiar  to  her  in  her 
uncle’s  house,  documents  belonging  to  the  chan- 
cellor’s office.  ‘ No  one  has  a right  to  touch 
them,  except  the  , itipxess  and  those  whom  she 
specially  appoints. ' 

‘ Exactly,’  replied  Qrl-ii,  without  changing  his 
position,  and  with  the  same  air  of  disdainful 
indifference.  ‘ She  told  me  to  look  through  this.’ 
He  seemed  very  much  bored  by  his  task,  and 
resolved  to  get  it  over  as  quickly  as  possible. 

The  Princess  was  thunderstruck.  • Her  aston- 
ishment was  not  at  an  end.  Three  covers  were 
laid  on  a table  at  the  other  end  of  the  room. 
The  Empress,  arriving  immediately,  asked  her 


192  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

■friend  to  seat  herself  beside  her.  The  third  place 
was  for  the  young  lieutenant.  But  he  made  no 
move.  The  Empress  then  had  the  table  moved 
over  by  the  divan.  She  and  the  Princess  sat 
down  opposite  to  the  young  man,  who  still  lay  at 
full  length  on  the  sofa.  He  was,  it  appeared, 
wounded  in  the  leg. 

Thus  was  disclosed  the  situation  which  he  was 
to  occupy  in  connection  with  the  new  sovereign. 
It  was  the  inauguration  of favouritism. 

Ill 

Some  further  ordeals  still  awaited  Catherine  at 
St.  Petersburg.  The  very  night  after  her  return, 
there  was  a great  noise  outside  the  palace.  The 
soldiers  of  the  Ismailofski  regiment  had  left  their 
barracks,  and  demanded  to  see  the  Empress,  to 
assure  themselves  that  she  had  not  been  carried 
off.  She  had  to  get  up  from  bed,  and  once 
again  put  on  her  grenadier’s  uniform,  in  order 
to  reassure  them. 

‘ I cannot  and  would  not,’  she  writes  some 
months  later  to  Poniatowski,  ‘ tell  you  all  the 
obstacles  there  are  to  your  coming  here.  . . My 
situation  is  such  that  I have  to  be  exii  iy 
careful,  and  the  least  soldier  of  the  Guard  who 
sees  me  says  to  himself : “ See  the  work  of  my 
hands.”  1 am  frightened  to  death  at  the  letters 
you  write  me.’ 

She  held  her  own  aduiirably,  however,  with 
the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  situation. 
Neither  in  the  preparation  nor  the  execution 
of  the  coup  diMat  had  she  shown  very  great 
forethought  or  capacity,  qualities,  certainly,  de- 


THE  VICTORY 


m 


sirable  in  a leader ; but  she  had  shown  courage, 
cooljiess,  resoluteness,  and  especially  the  art  of 
doing  things  with  effect.  These  means  of  action 
she  still  employed.  All  the  eye-witnesses  of  the 
events  which  were  then  taking  place  at  St. 
Petersburg  are  unanimous  in  praise  of  her  calm- 
ness, her  affable  and  yet  imposing  air,  and  the 
smiling  majesty  of  her  mien  and  bearing.  She 
was  already  showing  herself  ‘ imperturbable.’ 

She  did  not  neglect,  either,  the  means  she  had 
long  ago  chosen  for  the  subjection  of  wills  and 
the  conquest  of  devotions  : she  manifested  herself 
from  the  first  as  an  ostentatious  Empress,  splen- 
didly rewarding  those  who  served  her,  generous 
to  profusion.  During  the  first  few  months  of  her 
reign,  it  is  a veritable  Pactolus  that  streams  forth 
upon  those  who  have  wrought  for  her  her  fortune. 
Up  to  November  i6,  1762,  the  amount  of  indem- 
nities paid,  apart  from  payment  in  kind,  in  land, 
and  in  peasants,  comes  to  795,622  roubles,  or 
nearly  four  million  francs  at  the  then  rate  of 
reckoning.  And  these  sums  are  for  the  most  part 
but  instalments.  Thus  Gregory  Orlof  has  received 
only  5000  roubles  out  of  the  50,000  assigned  to 
him  -The  resources  of  the  Treasury  do  not  admit 
of;^  je"  at  the  present.  Princess  Dachkof  figures 
on  tL  i list  of  payments  to  the  amount  of  25,000 
roubles.  A sum  of  225,850  roubles  has  been 
appropriated  to  the  remittance  of  a half-year’s 
pay,  by  which  the  st.-  ^j  of  the  Guards’  regiments 
are  the  gainers.  The  soldiers  are  not  so  well  off. 
They  have  had  plenty  to  drink  on  the  day  of  the 
12th  July.  On  this  head  the  expense  amounts 
to  41,000  roubles,  or  more  than  200,000  francs. 
But,  not  long  after  the  great  event,  a consider- 


194 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


able  number  of  these  Praetorians  are  in  want, 
"^and  Catherine  does  nothing  for  them.  It  is 
true  that  she  is  no  longer  in  need  of  them. 

The  absent  are  not  forgotten.  One  of 
Catherine’s  first  cares  was  to  send  an  express 
messenger  to  the  ex-chancellor  Bestoujef,  an- 
nouncing her  accession  to  the  throne,  and  invit- 
ing him  to  rejoin  her  in  the  capital.  The  bearer 
of  this  good  news,  chosen  by  Catherine,  was  a 
certain  Nicholas  Ivanovitch  Kalyshkine,  who,  in 
February  1758,  being  then  a sergeant  in  a regi- 
ment of  the  Guards,  had  been  intrusted  with  the 
surveillance  of  the  jeweller  Bernard!,  implicated 
in  the  Bestoujef  case,  and  had  aided  in  the  ex- 
change of  correspondence  between  the  Grand 
Duchess  and  the  prisoners.  That,  too,  Catherine 
remembered.  She  was  nevertheless  raising  false 
hopes  in  her  former  associate  in  politics.  Bes- 
toujef hastened  to  her  at  once,  and  was  received 
with  open  arms.  Catherine  was  very  glad  to  have 
at  hand  a man  of  his  experience  and  authority. 
She  paraded  his  name  and  his  past  services,  and 
often  had  recourse  to  his  counsels.  But  he 
no  doubt  anticipated  recovering  his  place  as 
omnipotent  minister,  Ini*  jed  an  influence  even 
greater  than  he  had  had  under  Elizabeth.  In 
this  he  was  greatly  mistaken. 

'-U  xThere  were  a number  of  similar  dlsappoint- 
V ments.  Field-Marshal  Munich,  who  had  has- 
tened to  make  his  submission,  had  a very 
considerable  one.  Catherine  did  not  appear  to 
cherish  any  ill-will  against  him  on  account  of  the 
assistance,  useless,  it  is  true,  that  he  had  rendered 
to  Peter.  He  had  only  done  his  duty.  He  said 
it  handsomely  enough,  and  she  seemed  to  lend  ear 


THE  VICTORY 


195 

to  it  in  like  manner.  But  she  did  with  him  as  she 
did  with  Bestoujef.  She  got  rid  of  him  politely. 
She  judged,  to  use  the  ^expression  of  a modern 
^^^statesman,  that  a new  situation  needed  new  men. 

Another  to  be  disenchanted  was  Princess 
V Dachkof,  She  had  conceived  of  the  reign  of 
Catherine  as  a sort  of  transformation  scene,  in 
which  she  would  continue  day  by  day  to  sway 
the  destinies  of  the  empire,  prancing  on  a noble 
steed  at  the  head  of  a column  of  grenadiers. 
She  had  acquired  a taste  for  a uniform,  for  in- 
trigue, for  parade.  She  imagined  herself  to  be 
neither  esteemed  and  rewarded  according  to  her 
merits,  nor  utilised  according  to  her  capacities. 
We  shall  come  across  her  again  later  on,  with 
her  dreams,  her  pretensions,  and  all  the  follies 
that  poisoned  her  own  life,  and  gave  no  little 
trouble  to  her  imperial  friend.  We  shall  also 
come  across  Bestoujef  and  Munich. 

Catherine  was  very  near  making  another  mal- 
content in  the  person  of  an  obscure  friend,  of 
whom  we  have  already  spoken.  Princess  Dach- 
kof was  not  the  only  one  to  claim  a principal 
share  in  the  event  of  the  12th  July.  Four  days 
after  the  coup  d dtat,  i Ceneral  Betzky  was  an- 
nounced to  the  Empress.  He  had  been  em- 
ployed in  making  some  distributions  of  money  to 
the  soldiers  gained  over  by  the  Orlofs.  He  had 
received  an  order  and  a few  thousand  roubles. 
Catherine  imagined  that  he  had  come  to  thank 
her.  He  fell  on  his  knees,  and,  in  that  posi- 
tion, he  entreated  the  Empress  to  state  before 
witnesses  to  whom  she  owed  her  crown. 

‘To  God  and  to  my  subjects’  choice.’  said 
Catherine  simply. 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RLS^IA 


196 

On  hearing’  these  ■words,  Betzky  rose,  and 
with  a tragic  gesture  took  off  the  ribbon  of  his 
order. 

‘ What  are  you  doing  ? ’ 

‘ I am  no  more  worthy  to  bear  these  insignia, 
the  reward  of  my  services,  since  my  services  are 
disowned  by  the  Empress.  I imagined  myself  to 
have  been  the  sole  workman  of  her  grandeur. 
Was  it  not  I who  raised  the  Guards?  Was  it  not 
I who  scattered  the  gold  ? The  Empress  denies 
it.  I am  the  most  unhappy  of  men.’ 

The  Empress  turned  it  off  with  a joke. 

‘You  gave  me  the  crown,  Betzky,  I admit. 
Therefore  I would  receive  it  from  your  hands 
alone.  It  is  you  to  whom  I confide  the  care  of 
rendering  it  as  beautiful  as  possible.  I put  at 
your  disposal  all  the  jewellers  of  my  empire.’ 

Betzky  took  the  joke  seriously.  He  looked 
after  the  jewellers  who  had  to  prepare  the  crown 
against  the  day  of  coronation,  and  was  satisfied. 
So,  at  least,  the  Princess  Dachkof  tells  the  story, 
in  which  she  may  well  have  put  some  amount  of 
invention. 

In  general,  however,  as  we  have  said,  Catherine 
was  as  generous  to  her  friends  as  she  was  mag- 
nanimous to  her  enemies.  The  new  reign  began 
well.  The  enthusiasm  with  which  it  had  been 
deceived  in  the  capital  found  an  echo  in  the 
remotest  provinces.  Suddenly  a dark  cloud  came 
across  this  radiant  dawn.  On  July^iS,  as  she 
was  retiring  from  the  senate,  where  she  had  read 
a new  manifesto  setting  forth  the  description, 
somewhat  coloured,  of  the  means  whereby  she 
had  risen  to  the  throne,  Catherine  was  about  to 
prepare  to  appear  before  the  court,  when  a man 


THE  VICTORY 


197 


rushed  into  her  dressing-room,  covered  with 
sweat  and  dust,  his  clothes  all  in  disorder.  It 

Iwas  Alexis  Orlof.  He  had  ridden  full  speed 
from  Ropcha  to  announce  to  the  Empress  the 
J('ath  of  Peter  III, 


IV 

How  had  this  come  about?  It  is  still  a 
mystery.  More  than  in  any  other  country  in 
Europe,  it  yet  remains  for  history  in  Russia  to 
get  at  the  true  sense  of  the  official  accounts  of 
great  events  of  state.  The  walls  of  palaces  built 
of  granite  are  thick,  tongues  are  silent.  Peter 
had  resigned  himself  to  his  fate  with  surprising 
facility.  He  had  Confined  his  complaints  and 
demands  to  three  things,  that  he  might  have 
his  mistress,  his  monkey,  and  his  violin.  He 
passed  his  time  in  drinking  and  smoking.  On 
the  1 8th  of  July  he  was  found  dead.  That  is 
almost  all  that  we  know  with  certainty. 

That  his  death  was  a violent  one  is  almost 
certain.  At  the  time  no  one  doubted  it.  Writing 
to  the  Due  de  Choiseul,  the  French  chargd- 
d'affaires,  Beranger  stated  that  he  had  by  him 
‘everything  that  could  justify  the  generally  re- 
ceived opinion,’  He  had  not  seen  the  body  of 
the  sovereign,  exposed  in  public  with  the  usual 
ceremony,  for  the  diplomatic  corps  had  not  been 
invited  to  see  it,  and  Beranger  knew  that  those 
who  found  their  way  there  were  noted.  But  he 
had  sent  a trustworthy  man,  whose  report  went  to 
confirm  his  suspicions.  The  body  of  the  unfor- 
tunate sovereign  was  quite  black,  and  ‘ extra- 
vasated  blood  oozed  through  the  pores,  and  even 


igS  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

showed  through  the  gloves  which  covered  the 
hands.'  Those  who  thought  it  their  duty  to  kiss 
the  corpse  on  the  mouth,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  country,  came  back  with  their  lips  swollen. 

There  is  here  a certain  amount  of  what  is 
imaginary,  though  in  a diplomatic  document. 
But  the  fact  itself  is  supported  by  the  strongest 
presumptions.  As  for  the  mode  of  assassination, 
since  it  seems  that  one  must  admit  the  hypothesis, 
suppositions  have  varied  equally.  Some  have 
spoken  of  poisoning  by  Burgundy,  Peter’s  fav- 
ourite wine,  others  of  strangling.  The  most  part 
have  suggested  Alexis  Orlof  as  the  author,  in- 
spires or  even  executor,  propria  mami,  of  the 
deed.  One  version,  however,  which  is  not  with- 
out authority,  brings  forward  quite  different  data. 
It  sets  Orlof  completely  aside.  It  is  not  he  but 
Tieplof  who  has  done,  or  at  least  arranged  it  all. 
On  his  injunction,  a Swedish  officer  in  the  service 
of  Russia,  Svanovitz  (?),  strangled  Peter  with  a 
musket-strap.  The  crime  took  place,  not  on  the 
i8th,  but  the  15th,  of  July.  It  is  not  Orlof,  it  is 
Prince  Bariatinski,  who  carried  the  news  to  St. 
Petersburg. 

Orlof  or  Tieplof,  the  question  may  seem  of 
secondary  or  trifling  importance.  It  is  not  so. 
If  Tieplof  was  the  instigator  of  the  crime,  it  is 
Catherine  who  was  the  supreme  instigator.  For 
how  can  we  imagine  that  he  would  act  without  her 
consent  ? With  Orlof  it  would  be  quite  different. 
He  and  his  brother  Gregory  were  then,  and  were 
for  some  time  to  be,  the  masters,  to  a certain 
point,  of  the  situation  that  they  had  brought  about, 
masters  also  in  how  they  chose  to  follow  up  the 
game  in  which  their  lives  were  at  stake.  'Phey 


THE  VICTORY 


199 


had  not  consulted  Catherine  over  the  coup  d'dat-, 
they  may  well  not  have  consulted  her  this  time. 

‘The  Empress  was  quite  ignorant  of  this 
crime,’  declared  Frederick,  twenty  years  after- 
wards, talking  with  the  Comte  de  Segur,  ‘and 
she  heard  of  it  with  a despair  which  was  not 
feigned,  for  she  justly  foresaw  the  judgment  that 
everybody  passes  upon  her  to-day.’ 

‘ Everybody  ’ was  perhaps  too  much  to  say. 
But  the  great  majority  certainly  held  the  opinion 
which  Castera,  Masson,  Helbig,  and  others  have 
echoed.  In  a journal  of  the  period,  printed  at 
Leipzig,  the  death  of  Peter  was  compared  with 
that  of  King  Edward  of  England,  murdered 
in  prison  by  order  of  his  wife  Isabella  (1327). 
Later  on,  there  was  a certain  change  of  opinion, 
to  which  the  memoirs  of  Princess  Dachkof  con- 
tributed not  a little.  On  the  death  of  Catherine 
Paul  is  said  to  have  discovered  in  the  papers  of 
the  Empress  a letter  of  Alexis  Orlof,  written  im- 
mediately after  the  event,  and  referring  definitely 
to  him.self  as  the  author  of  the  crime.  Bloodthirsti- 
ness, terror,  and  remorse  all  expressed  themselves 
in  it.  The  Emperor  lifted  his  eyes  to  heaven  and 
said,  ‘Thanks  be  to  God!’  But  the  Princess 
Dachkof,  who  relates  the  scene,  did  not  witness  it. 

Among  modern  writers  there  is  still  some 
conflict  of  opinions  and  conjectures.  Catherine 
herself,  it  must  be  confessed,  did  much  to  heighten 
the  obscurity  of  this  terrible  enigma,  by  enveloping 
the  event  in  all  the  darkness  within  the  power  of 
an  absolute  sovereign.  If  she  has  been  wronged, 
it  is  perhaps  she  herself  who,  to  a certain  extent, 
provoked  the  calumny  by  proscribing  the  truth. 
Her  severity  in  putting  down  all  public  discus- 


200 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


sion  of  the  tragic  incident  went  to  the  extent  of 
attacking  the  work  of  Rulhiere,  who  nevertheless 
has  pronounced  no  opinion  on  the  question  of  her 
share  in  the  murder.  Despite  her  science  of 
attitudes,  that  which  she  saw  fit  to  assume  at  the 
moment  of  the  catastrophe  was  not  perhaps  the 
best  calculated  to  disarm  public  malignity,  though 
it  testified  to  the  strength  of  her  character,  and 
her  resources  as  an  actress.  In  a council  hastily 
summoned,  it  was  decided  that  the  news  should 
be  kept  secret  for  twenty-four  hours.  The 
Empress  thereupon  appeared  before  the  court 
without  betraying  the  slightest  trace  of  emotion. 
It  was  only  on  the  following  day,  a manifesto 
having  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  senate 
the  news  of  the  dreadful  ending,  that  Catherine 
put  on  the  air  of  one  who  has  but  just  heard  what 
has  happened  : she  wept  copiously  before  her  im- 
mediate retinue,  and  did  not  appear  in  public. 

One  last  word  on  the  subject  of  this  question 
which  can  never  be  fathomed  : neither  Orlof,  nor 
Tieplof,  nor  any  one,  was  prosecuted  on  account 
of  the  drama  of  Ropcha.  Does  not  this  throw 
the  responsibility  on  the  sovereign,  on  whatever 
hypothesis  ? There  must  have  been  at  all  events 
consent  on  her  part,  consent  to  what  had  been 
done,  if  not  to  the  doing  of  it.  And  this  leaves 
one  spot  of  blood  on  the  hands  which  had  just 
seized  the  imperi^il  sceptre.  Perhaps  there  were 
others.  But  perhaps  human  greatness  cannot 
reach  certain  heights  without  these  soils,  which 
y)-  bring  it  down  to  the  common  level  of  humanity, 
t And  Catherine  was  great.  How,  by  what  means, 
and  despite  what  defects,  we  shall  now  endeavour 
^ to  show.  Not  having  undertaken  to  write  the 


THE  VICTORY 


201 


history  of  her  life,  we  shall  here  quit  the  narrative, 
in  the  course  of  which  we  have  tried  to  indicate 
the  origins  and  beginnings  of  her  strange  career. 
This  preliminary  investigation  has  seemed  to  us 
necessary  for  the  proper  placing  and  showing  up 
of  what  is  the  real  object  of  our  study,  that  is  to 
say,  the  portrait  of  a woman  and  a sovereign  who, 
in  both  characters,  has  had  few  rivals  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  and  the  aspect  of  a reign  which  has 
been,  up  to  the  present,  unequalled  in  the  history 
of  a great  nation.  We  have  endeavoured  to 
show  how  Catherine  became  what  she  was ; we 
shall  now  endeavour  to  say  what  she  was. 


H 


/, 


I, 


PART  II 


THE  EMPRESS 


BOOK  I . 

THE  WOMAN 
CHAPTER  I 

APPEARANCE — CHARACTER — TEMPERAMENT 
I 

‘To  tell  the  truth,  I have  never  fancied  myself 
extremely  beautiful,  but  I had  the  gift  of  pleas-^^ 
ing,  and  that,  I think,  was  my  greatest  gift.’  So 
Catherine  herself  defines  the  particular  kind  of 
attraction  that  nature  had  given  her  in  outward 
appearance.  Thus,  having  passed  all  her  life 
in  hearing  herself  compared  to  all  the  Cleopatras 
of  history,  she  did  not  admit  the  justice  of  the 
comparison.  Not  that  she  underrated  its  worth. 

‘ Believe  me,’  she  wrote  to  Grimm,  ‘ there  can 
never  be  too  much  of  beauty,  and  I have  always 
placed  a very  high  estimation  on  it,  though  I 
have  never  been  very  beautiful.’  Did  she 
deliberately  depreciate  her  charms,  through 
a modest  ignorance  or  an  artifice  of  refined 
coquetry  ? One  is  tempted  to  believe  it,  on 
hearing  the  almost  unanimous  opinion  of  her 
contemporaries.  Tlie_^Semiramis  of  the  North’ 
flashed  across  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  over  the  very  threshold  of  the 
nineteenth,  as  a marvellous  incarnation,  not  only 

205 


2o6 


CAT/IERINE  IL  OF  RUSSIA 


of  power,  grandeur,  and  triumphant  success,  but 
/ also  of  adorable  and  adored  femininity.  In  the 
/ eyes  of  all,  or  of  nearly  all,  she  was  not  only 
imposing,  majestic,  terrible,  but  also  seductive, 
beautiful  among  the  beautiful,  queen  by  right  jaf 
'“beauty  as  by  right  of  genius,  Pallas  and  Venus 
Victrix. 

Well,  it  seems  that  her  contemporaries  saw 
the  marvellous  Czarina  in  a sort  of  mirage.  The 
illusion  was  so  complete  that  it  extended  to  the 
most  apparent  and  the  most  insignificant  details. 
Thus,  the  greater  part  of  those  who  came  into 
her  presence  speak  of  her  lofty  stature,  by  which 
she  dominated  a crowd.  Now,  as  a matter  of 
fact,  she  was  under  the  middle  height,  short 
almost,  with  a precocious  tendency  to  grow  stout. 
The  very  colour  of  her  eyes  has  given  rise  to 
absurd  contradictions.  Some  found  them  brown, 
others  blue,  and  Rulhiere  has  tried  to  harmonise 
both  accounts  by  making  them  brown  with  a 
shade  of  blue  in  some  lights.  Here  is  his  whole 
portrait — a portrait  which  belongs  to  the  period 
a little  before  Catherine’s  accession  to  the  throne, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-seven.  No  portrait  of  an 
earlier  date  has  come  down  to  us  with  anything 
like  so  much  detail : Poniatowski’s  is  only  four 
or  five  years  earlier  in  date,  and  is  a lover’s 
portrait.  > 

‘Her  figure,’  writes  Rulhiere,  *is  noble  and 
agreeable,  her  bearing  proud ; her  person  and 
her  demeanour  full  of  grace.  Her  air  is  that  of 
a sovereign.  All  her  features  indicate  character. 
Her  neck  is  long,  her  head  stands  out  well ; the 
union  of  these  tv'o  parts  is  of  remarkable  beauty, 
alike  in  the  profile  and  in  the  niovements  of  t’ne 


. ^...^ANCE-CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  207 

head  ; and  she  is  not  unmindful  of  her  beauty  in 
this  respect.  Her  forehead  is  large  and  open, 
her  nose  almost  aquiline ; her  mouth  is  fresh, 
and  embellished  by  her  teeth  ; her  chin  a little 
large,  and  inclined  to  fleshiness.  Her  hair  is 
chestnut  in  colour,  and  of  the  greatest  beauty ; 
her  eyebrows  brown,  her  eyes  brown  and ‘very 
Jbeautiful — in  certain  lights  there  seem  to  be 
shades  of  blue ; and  her  skin  is  of  dazzling 
whiteness.  Pride  is  the  main  characteristic  of 
her  physiognomy.  The  amiability  and  good- 
nature whicn  are  also  to  be  seen  there  seem,  to  a 
penetrating  eye,  merely  the  effect  of  an  extreme 
desire  to  make  a pleasing  impression,’ 

■ ^Rulhiere  is  neither  a lover  nor  an  enthusiast. 
Compare,  however,  with  this  sketch  the  sketch 
done  in  pencil  about  this  time  by  a Russian 
artist,  Tchemessof.  There  is  a story  that  this 
portrait  was  made  at  the  desire  of  Patiomkine, 
whom  Catherine  began  to  favour  just  after,  or 
perhaps  just  before,  the  revolution  of  July. 
Catherine  was  very  pleased  with  it,  and  took  the 
artist  into  her  service  as  secretary  to  her  cabinet. 
And  yet  what  an  Empress  this  Tchemessof 
shows  us,  and  how  unlike  all  that  we  see  of 
other  painters,  sculptors,  and  memoir-writers, 
from  Benner  to  Lampi,  from  Rulhiere  to  the 
Prince  de  Ligne ! The  face  is  agreeable  indeed, 
if  you  will,  and  intelligent,  but  so  little  ideal, 
but — dare  one  say  it  ? — so  common.  The  cos- 
tume perhaps  has  something  to  do  wi.^h  this,  a 
strange  mourning  attire  with  the  hair  oddly 
dressed,  covering  the  forehead  down  to  the  eye- 
brows, and  overtopping  the  head  with  a pair  of 
bats’-wings.  Bjat  the  hard,  smiling  face,  the 


jo8  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

heavy,  half-masculine  features,  stand  out  with  a 
brutal  frankness.  You  would  say  a German 
yivandiere  turned  into  a nun.  Qeopatra,,  neyer ! 

Was  Tchemessof  a deceiver,  and  did  Catherine, 
in  seeing-  herself  in  the  portrait,  merely  show 
that  total  ignorance  of  art  which  she  afterwards 
confessed  with  such  candour  to  Falconet.^  It 
may  be,  to  a certain  point.  We  have  neverthe- 
less a sort  of  duplicate  of  the  Russian  artist’s 
sketch  in  a written  portrait  done  some  years 
later  by  Richardson,  who  seems  to  have  had  a 
mind  and  eyes  of  his  own,  not  to  be  taken  in  by 
any  kind  of  illusion.  This  is  how  he  notes  his 
impressions : — 

‘The  Empress  of  Russia  is  under  the  middle 
height,  graceful  and  well-proportioned,  but  in- 
clining to  be  stout.  She  has  a good  colour,  and 
nevertheless  endeavours  to  improve  it  with 
rouge,  after  the  manner  of  all  the  women  of  this 
country.  Her  mouth  is  well-shaped,  with  good 
teeth ; her  blue  eyes  have  a scrutinising  expres- 
sion— something  not  so  pronounced  as  an  in- 
quisitive look,  nor  so  ugly  as  a defiant  look. 
The  features  are  in  general  regular  and  agree- 
able. The  general  effect  is  such,  that  one  would 
do  an  injustice  in  attributing  to  it  a masculine 
air,  and  something  less  than  justice  in  calling  it 
entirely  feminine/ 

This  is  not  exactly  in  the  tone  of  the  naif  Nivdi 
all  but  gross  realism  of  Tchemessof.  A common 
trait,  however,  appears  in  both,  and  it  is  what 
would  seem  to  have  been  the  dominant  trait  of 
the  model,  and,  from  the  point  of  view  of  plastic 
beauty,  to  have  considerably  diminished,  if  not 
destroyed,  its  charm  : that  mannish  expression, 


APPEARANCE— CHARACTER-TEMPERAMENT  209 

namely,  which  is  emphasised  in  both,  and  which 
\}^e  find,  through  all  the  magic  of  colours,  in  the 
work  of  even  the  least  conscientious  of  artists. 
The  portrait  that  was  the  delight  of  Voltaire,  and 
is  still  to  be  seen  at  Ferney — even  that  betrays 
something  of  it. , Catherine  was  nevertheless 
observant  in  the  matter,  and  down  to  the  very 
last.  A wrinkle  that  she  discovered  near  the 
root  of  the  nose  in  the  portrait  painted  by 
Lampi,  not  long  before  her  death,  seeming  to 
her  to  give  a hard  expression  to  her  face, 
brought  both  picture  and  painter  into  trouble. 
Lampi  nevertheless,  and  quite  justly,  had  the 
reputation  of  not  saying  the  truth  too  cruelly  to 
his  models.  He  effaced  the  wrinkle,  and  the 
all  but  septuagenarian  Empress  took  the  air  of  a 
young  nymph.  History  does  not  tell  us  if  she 
was  satisfied  this  time. 

‘ What  do  you  think  1 look  like  ? ’ asked 
Catherine  of  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  on  his  first 
visit  to  St.  Petersburg ; ‘ long,  lanky,  eyes  like 
stars,  and  a big  hoop.’  This  was  in  1780.  The 
Empress  was  fifty.  This  is  what  the  Prince 
de  Ligne  thought  of  her : ‘ She  still  looked  well. 
One  saw  that  she  had  been  beautiful  rather  than 
pretty  : the  majesty  of  her  forehead  was  tempered 
by  her  pleasant  eyes  and  smile,  but  the  forehead 
was  everything.  It  needed  no  Lavater  to  read 
there,  as  in  a book,  genius,  justice,  courage,  depth, 
equanimity,  sweetness,  calm,  and  decision  : the 
breadth  of  the  forehead  indicated  memory  and 
imagination  ; there  was  room  for  everything. 
Her  chin,  somewhat  pointed,  was  not  absolutely 
prominent,  but  it  was  anything  but  retiring,  and 
had  a certain  nobility  of  aspect  The  oval. 


210 


CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 


notwithstanding,  was  not  well  designed,  though 
excessively  pleasing,  for  frankness  and  gaiety 
dwelt  on  the  lips.  Her  fine  bust  had  been  ac' 
quired  somewhat  at  the  expense  of  her -waist, 
once  so  terribly  thin  ; but  people  generally  grow 
"TfaF  in  Russia.  If  she  had  not  so  tightly  drawn 
back  her  hair,  which  should  have  come  down 
more  around  her  face,  she  would  have  looked 
much  better.  One  never  noticed  that  she  was 
short.’ 

Again  an  enthusiast,  but  the  Comte  de  Segur, 
who  piqued  himself  on  being  less  so,  in  his 
quality  of  diplomatist,  noted  at  the  same  time 
almost  identically  the  same  trait.s.  ‘The  white- 
ness and  brilliance  of  her  complexion,’  he  says, 
‘were  the  charms  that  she  kept  the  longest.’ 
But  Castera  explains  in  his  own  way  her  triumph 
over  the  ‘irreparable  outrage’:  ‘In  the  last 
years  of  her  reign  she  used  a great  deal  of 
rouge.’  It  is  just  this  that  Catherine  would 
never  confess  to.  We  read  in  one  of  her  letters 
to  Grimm,  dated  1783  : — 

‘ Thank  you  for  the  pots  of  rouge  with  which 
you  advise  me  to  brighten  my  complexion ; but 
when  I tried  to  use  it,  I found  that  it  was  so 
crude  in  colour  that  it  made  me  look  frightful. 
So  you  will  excuse  me  if  I cannot  imitate  or 
adopt  this  pretty  fashion,  notwithstanding  my 
great  liking  for  your  Paris  fashions.’ 

The  most  authoritative,  the  least  impressive, 
testimony,  from  the  plastic  point  of  view,  is 
perhaps  that  of  Mile.  Vigee- Lebrun,  who,  un- 
fortunately, never  saw  Catherine  in  her  best  days. 
She  had  nothing  to  praise  in  the  conduct  of  the 
sovereign,  so  far  a guarantee  of  her  sincerity. 


/I ^ J uIARANCE—CHARA CTER—  TEMPERA MENT  2 1 1 

She  could  not  induce  the  Empress  to  pose  to 
her.  Her  brush,  later  on,  did  no  more  than 
evoke  certain  recollections.  Pen  in  hand,  she 
retraced  them  thus  : — 

‘ I was  at  first  extremely  surprised  to  find  that 
she  was  short ; I had  expected  her  to  be  mighty 
in  stature,  as  high  as  her  renown.  She  was  very 
stout,  but  she  had  still  a handsome  face,  admir- 
ably framed  in  by  her  white  hair,  raised  up  on  her 
head.  Genius  sat  on  her  large  high  forehead ; 
her  eyes  were  soft  and  clear,  her  nose  quite 
Grecian,  her  complexion  bright,  her  physiognomy 
very  mobile.  ...  I said  she  was  short ; yet  on 
her  reception  days,  her  head  held  high,  her  eagle 
glance,  the  composure  that  comes  of  the  habit 
of  command,  all  in  her  had  such  majesty  that 
she  seemed  to  me  the  queen  of  the  world.  She 
wore  on  these  occasions  the  insignia  of  three 
orders,  and  her  costume  was  simple  and  dignified. 
It  consisted  in  a tunic  of  muslin  embroidered 
with  gold,  the  ample  sleeves  folded  across  in  the 
Asiatic  style.  Above  this  tunic  was  a dolman 
of  red  velvet  with  very  short  sleeves.  The 
bonnet  that  framed  in  her  white  hair  was  not 
decked  with  ribbons,  but  with  diamonds  of  the 
greatest  beauty.’ 

Catherine  had  early  adopted  the  habit  of 
holding  her  head  very  high  in  public,  and  she 
kept  it  all  her  life.  Aided  by  her  prestige,  this 
gave  her  an  effect  of  height  that  deceived  even 
observers  like  Richardson.  The  art  of  mise  en 
scene,  in  which  she  was  incomparable,  has  re- 
mained a tradition  at  the  court  of  Russia.  A court 
lady  at  Vienna  once  gave  us  her  impressions  of 
the  arrival  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas  in  that 


213 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


capital.  When  she  saw  him  enter  the  castle, 
in  all  the  splendour  of  his  uniform,  his  virile 
beauty,  and  that  air  of  majesty  that  shone  in 
his  whole  person,  upright,  lofty  in  stature,  a 
head  taller  than  the  princes,  aides-de-camp,  and 
chamberlains,  she  felt  that  here  was  a demigod. 
In  the  upper  gallery,  where  she  was  placed,  she 
could  not  turn  away  her  eyes  from  the  sight. 
Suddenly,  she  saw  that  the  swarm  of  courtiers 
had  retired,  the  doors  were  closed.  Only  the 
imperial  family  and  a few  of  the  private  retinue 
remained.  But  the  Emperor — where  was  he  ? 
There,  sunk  into  a seat,  his  tall  form  doubled 
in  upon  itself,  the  muscles  of  his  face  released 
from  constraint,  settling  into  an  expression  of 
unspeakable  anguish ; unrecognisable,  only  the 
half  of  himself,  as  if  fallen  from  the  height  of 
grandeur  to  the  depth  of  misery  : the  demigod 
was  but  a handful  of  suffering  human  flesh.  This 
was  in  1850.  Nicholas  was  then  already  stricken 
by  the  first  attacks  of  the  disease  that  under- 
mined the  last  years  of  his  life,  and  prematurely 
ended  it.  Withdrawn  from  the  eyes  of  the  crowd, 
he  bowed  beneath  its  weight.  Before  the  public, 
by  an  heroic  effort  of  will,  he  became  once  more 
the  splendid  Emperor  of  the  past.  Perhaps  it  was 
so  with  Catherine  in  the  last  years  6f  her  reign. 

The  Princess  of  Saxe-Coburg,  who  saw  her 
for  the  first  time  in  1795,  begins  her  account  of 
the  meeting  unpleasantly  enough,  saying  that 
she  always  fancied  a sorceress  must  look  much  as 
did  the  old  Empress.  But  the  sequel  shows  that 
her  idea  of  a sorceress  was  by  no  means  disagree- 
able. She  praises  in  particular  the  ‘ singularly 
fine  complexion  ’ retained  by  the  Empress,  and 


APPEARANCE- -CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  213 

says  that  in  general  she  seemed  to  find  in  her 
‘the  personification  of  robust  old  age,  though 
abroad  there  is  much  talk  of  her  maladies.’ 

Catherine,  nevertheless,  had  never  very  good 
health.  She  suffered  much  from  headaches,  ac- 
companied by  colics.  This  did  not  prevent  her 
from  laughing  at  physic  and  physicians  to  the 
very  last.  It  was  quite  an  affair  to  make  her 
swallow  a potion.  One  day  when  her  doctor, 
Rogerson,  had  succeeded  in  making  her  take 
some  pills,  he  was  so  delighted  as  to  forget  him- 
self, and  clapped  her  ff.miliarly  on  the  shoulder, 
crying,  ‘ Bravo,  madame ! ’ She  was  not  in  the 
least  offended. 

From  1722  she  was  obliged  to  use  glasses 
to  read.  Her  hearing,  though  very  sharp,  was 
affected  by  an  odd  peculiarity ; each  of  her 
ears  heard  sounds  in  a different  way,  not  merely 
in  loudness,  but  in  tone.  This  no  doubt  was 
the  reason  why  she  could  never  appreciate 
music,  hard  as  she  tried  to  acquire  the  taste. 
Her  sense  of  harmony  was  completely  lacking. 

It  was  pretended  that  when  the  scarves  in 
which  she  was  accustomed  to  wrap  up  her  head 
at  night  came  to  be  washed,  they  were  seen  to 
emit  sparks.  The  same  phenomenon  occurred 
with  her  bedclothes.  Such  fables  only  serve  to 
indicate  her  actual  physical  influence  over  the 
minds  of  her  contemporaries,  marvelling  just 
then  over  the  mysterious  discoveries  of  Franklin. 

II 

‘I  assure  you,’  she  writes  in  1774  to  Grimm, 
‘ that  I have  not  the  defects  you  impute  to  me, 


214 


CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


because  I do  not  find  in  myself  the  qualities 
that  you  give  me.  I am,  perhaps,  good-natured, 
ordinarily,  but,  by  nature,  I am  constrained  to 
Will  terribly  what  1 will,  and  there  you  have 
what  I am  worth.’ 

Observe,  however,  that  if,  as  a general  thing, 
she  is  persevering  in  the  exercise  and  in  the 
invariable  tension  of  this  natural  energy,  having 
always  willed,  according  to  her  expression,  ‘ that 
the  good  of  the  empire  should  be  accomplished,’ 
and  having  willed  it  with  extraordinary  force, 
in  small  things  she  is  inconstancy  itself.  She 
wills  everything  strongly,  but  she  changes  her 
mind  with  a no  less  surprising  facility,  as  her 
idea  of  what  is  ‘good’  varies.  In  this  respect 
is  a woman,  from  head  to  foot.~^,In  1767 
sne  devotes  herself  to  her  Instruction  for  the 
new  laws  that  she  would  give  to  Russia.  This 
work,  in  which  she  has  pillaged  Montesquieu 
and  Beccaria,  is  in  her  eyes  destined  to  open 
a new  era  in  the  history  of  Russia.  And  she 
wills,  ardently,  passionately,  that  it  should  be 
put  into  action.  Difficulties,  however,  arise ; un- 
looked-for delays  interpose  themselves.  Where- 
upon, all  at  once,  she  loses  interest  in  the  thing. 
In  1775  she  excogitates  Rules  for  the  administra- 
tion of  her  provinces.  And  she  writes : ‘ My 
last  rules  of  the  7th  November  contain  250 
quarto  pages  of  print,  and  I swear  to  you  that 
it  is  the  best  thing  I have  ever  done,  and  that, 
in  comparison,  I look  upon  the  Instruction  as 
so  much  nonsense.’  And  she  is  dying  with 
desire  to  show  this  new  masterpiece  to  her  con- 
fidant. Less  than  a year  afterwards  it  is  finished, 
^'irimm  has  not  had  sight  of  the  document,  and 


APPEARANCE-  CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  215 

as  he  insists  on  being  favoured  with  it,  she  loses 
patience : ‘Why  is  he  so  anxious  to  read  any- 
thing so  little  amusing?  It  is  very  good,  very 
fine,  perhaps,  but  quite  tedious.’  At  the  end  of 
a month  she  has  forgotten  all  about  it. 

She  has  the  .same  way  with  men  as  with  things  : 
sudden,  passionate  infatuations,  of  an  unexampled 
impetuosity,  followed  by  disenchantments  and 
by  an  equally  rapid  subsidence  into  the  most,^::^ 
complete  indifference.  The  greater  part  of  the 
able  men  whom  she  drew  to  Russia,  Diderot 
among  the  rest,  experienced  it  in  turn.  After 
having  passed  twenty  years  of  her  reign  in 
adorning  different  residences  which  have  been 
successively  preferred  and  preferable  in  her  eyes, 
she  takes  a fancy,  all  of  a sudden,  in  1786,  to  a 
site  near  St.  Petersburg,  which  has  no  advantages 
in  itself.  She  summons  the  Russian  architect 
Starof,  of  the  Academy  of  St.  Petersburg,  to 
build  a palace  there  in  all  haste  ; and  she  writes 
to  Grimm  : ‘ All  my  country  houses  are  as  hovels 
in  comparison  with  Pella,  which  is  rising  like  a 
phoenix.’ 

Not  being  wanting,  by  any  means,  either  in 
common  sense  or  in  acuteness,  she  comes  to  find 
out,  late  enough,  what  we  have  just  noted. 
‘Two  days  ago,’  she  writes  in  1781,  ‘I  made 
the  discovery  that  I am  a beginner  by  profession, 
and  that  up  to  now  I have  finished  nothing  of 
all  that  I have  begun.’  And  a year  afterwards : 

‘ For  all  that,  I only  want  the  time  to  finish ; it 
is  like  my  laws,  my  regulations  : everything  is 
begun,  nothing  finished.’  She  has  her  illusions, 
however,  and  she  adds : ‘ If  I live  ten  years 
longer,  all  will  be  finished  to  perfection.’  Two 


2i6 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


years  and  more  having  passed,  she  ends  by 
perceiving  that  time  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
matter.  ‘ Never  have  I so  completely  realised 
that  I am  a very  accumulation  of  broken  ends,’ 
she  declares,  not  without  a certain  melancholy. 
To  which  she  adds,  that  she  is  ‘as  stupid  as  a 
goose,’  and  that  she  is  convinced  Prince  Patiom- 
kine  had  much  more  notion  of  good  management 
than  she. 

She  would  not  be  a woman  if  it  did  not  some- 
times happen  to  her  not  to  know  very  well  what 
she  wanted,  or  even  not  know  it  at  all,  while  she 
was  very  much  in  want  of  something.  Apropos 
of  a certain  Wagniere,  who  was  secretary  to 
Voltaire,  whose  services  she  desired  for  herself, 
and  whom,  after  all,  she  did  not  know  what  to 
do  with,  she  writes  to  her  souffre-douleur : — 

‘A  truce  to  your  excuses  . . . and  to  mine, 
for  not  knowing  exactly,  now  as  often,  what  I 
wanted,  nor  what  I did  not  want,  and  for  having 
consequently  written  for  and  against.  ...  If  you 
will,  I will  found  a professorship,  in  addition  to 
the  one  you  counsel,  on  the  science  of  indecision, 
more  natural  to  me  than  people  think.’ 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  a disposition  of  this 
kind  is  not  made  to  give  a firm  and  well-balanced 
direction  to  the  affairs  of  an  empire.  And,  in- 
deed, nothing  of  the  kind  is  to  be  found  in  the 
part  that  Catherine  played  in  history.  If  this 
part  was  a large  one,  it  was — as  she  well  knew 
herself — because  she  had  to  do  with  a new  people, 
at  the  first  stage  of  its  career,  the  stage  of  ex- 
pansion. In  this  stage  a people  has  no  need 
of  being  directed  ; for  the  most  part,  it  is  not 
even  susceptible  of  direction.  It  is  an  ‘impelled 


APPEARANCE— CHARACTER— TEM-PERAMENT  217 

force’  which  follows  its  own  impulsion.  In 
obeying  it,  it  is  in  no  danger  of  going  astray. 
The  sole  misfortune  of  which  it  is  capable  is  that 
of  falling  asleep.  It  would  be  vain  and  useless  to 
take  such  a nation  by  the  hand,  and  lead  it  into 
the  way  that  it  knows  so  well  how  to  find  by 
itself.  It  suffices  to  give  it  a shaking,  and  start 
it  forward  from  time  to  time.  That  is  what 
Catherine  understood  in  the  most  wonderful 
way.  Her  action  was  that  of  a stimulant  and 
a propeller  of  prodigious  vigour. 

Jn  this-xespect  she  bears  comparison  with  the 
greatest  men  of  history.  Her  soul  is  like  a 
spring,  always  at  full  tension,  always  vibrating, 
of  a temper  which  resists  every  test.  In  the 
moiitTh  of  August  1765  she  is  unwell,  and  is 
keeping  her  bed.  Rumours  are  spread  that 
she  is  enceinte,  and  that  an  abortion  is  to  be 
procured.  Nevertheless  she  has  arranged  for 
some  great  manoeuvres,  ‘a  camp,’  as  it  was 
called  then,  for  the  end  of  the  month,  and  she 
has  announced  that  she  will  be  present.  She  is 
present.  The  last  day,  during  the  ‘battle,’  she 
remains  on  horseback  for  five  hours,  having  to 
direct  the  manoeuvres  and  to  send  orders,  by  the 
intermediary  of  her  aide-de-camp,  to  Marshal 
Boutourline  and  to  General  Prince  Galitzine, 
who  command  the  two  wings  of  the  army.  The 
aide-de-camp,  glittering  in  a cuirass  of  gold 
studded  with  jewels,  is  Gregory  Orlof.  Some 
months  later,  riots  having  broken  out  in  the 
capital,  she  comes  in  the  middle  of  the  night 
from  Tzarskoi'e-Sielo  to  St.  Petersburg  with 
Orlof,  Passek,  and  a few  other  trusty  friends, 
mounts  on  horseback,  and  traverses  the  streets 
15 


2i8  CATHERINE  II.  of  RUSSIA 

to  make  sure  that  her  orders  have  been  properly 
carried  out,  and  proper  precautions  taken.  Even 
now  she  has  not  fully  recovered  from  the  more 
or  less  mysterious  crisis  that  she  has  passed 
through.  She  can  take  no  nourishment.  She, 
however,  thinks  well  to  appear  cheerful  and  in 
good  health.  Festivity  follows  festivity;  the 
French  play  comes  to  Tzarskoie. 

Physical  or  moral  dejection,  lassitude,  or  dis- 
couragement, are  things  equally  unknown  to  her. 
Her  force  of  resistance  seems  to  increase  in  pro- 
portion to  the  demand  upon  it.  In  1791,  when 
things  look  dark  about  her,  when  she  has  to  face 
Sweden  and  Turkey,  and  is  in  danger  of  a 
rupture  with  England,  she  has,  or  affects  to  have, 
the  most  tranquil  serenity,  the  most  contagious 
good  humour.  She  laughs  and  jests;  advises  those 
about  her  to  give  up  English  liquors  in  good 
time,  and  get  accustomed  to  the  national  drinks. 

And  what  ‘ go  ’ ; what  ardour,  for  ever  youthful ; 
what  impetuousness,  never  relaxed  ! 

‘ Courage  ! Forward  ! That  is  the  motto  with 
which  I have  passed  through  good  years  and  bad 
years  alike,  and  now  I have  passed  through 
forty,  all  told,  and  what  is  the  present  evil  com”- 
pared  with  the  past  ^ ’ 

That  is  her  habitual  tone.  The  force  of  will 
that  she  has  at  command  allows  her  both  to  con- 
trol the  outward  expression  of  her  feelings,  and 
even  to  abstract  herself  when  she  will  from  these 
feelings  when  they  become  troublesome,  intense 
as  they  may  be,  for  she  is  far  from  being  in- 
different, or  hard  to  move,  or  naturally  calm. 
Sang-froid,  for  instance,  is  not  at  all  a part  of  her 
disposition.  In  May  1790,  on  the  eve  of  a sea- 


APPEARANCE-  CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  219 

fight  with  Sweden,  she  passes  whole  nights  with- 
out sleep,  puts  every  one  about  her  on  pins  and 
needles,  gets  a rotigeitr  on  her  cheek,  which  she 
attributes  to  th(^  acuteness  of  her  emotions,  and 
behaves  in  such  a way  that  every  one,  includ- 
ing her  Prime  Minister,  Besborodko,  bursts  into 
tears.  No  sooner  has  she  known  the  issue  of 
the  battle  than  her  peace  of  mind  is  restored,  and 
no  matter  what  bad  news  may  follow,  she  is  gay 
and  light-hearted  again.  Every  moment  she  is 
passing  through  some  fever  or  other.  She  falls 
ill  with  anxiety,  and  has  colics.  One  day  Chra- 
powicki,  her  factotum,  finds  her  lying  on  a sofa, 
complaining  of  pains  in  the  region  of  the  heart. 
‘ It  is  the  bad  weather,  no  doubt,’  says  he,  ‘that 
indisposes  your  Majesty.’  ‘No,’  replies  she,  ‘it 
is  Otchakof ; the  fortress  will  be  taken  to-day  or 
to-morrow;  I have  often  such  presentiments.’ 
These  presentiments  often  prove  deceptive,  as  in 
the  present  case,  for  Otchakof  was  not  taken  till 
two  months  after.  On  hearing  the  news  of  the 
death  of  Louis  XVI.,  she  receives  such  a shock 
that  she  is  obliged  to  take  to  her  bed.  It  is  true 
that,  this  time,  she  makes  no  attempt  to  master 
or  to  dissimulate  her  emotion,  which,  however,  is 
not  inspired  only  by  a sentiment  of  political 
solidarity,  for  the  fibres  of  her  heart  are  extremely 
excitable.  She  has  not  merely  ‘sensibility,’  after 
the  fashion  of  the  day ; she  is  sincerely  accessible 
to  sympathy  and  pity. 

‘ I forgot  to  drink,  eat,  and  sleep,’  she  writes  in 
1776,  announcing  the  death  of  her  daughter-in- 
law,  ‘ and  I know  not  how  I kept  up  my  strength. 
There  were  moments  when  my  very  heart  was 
torn  by  the  suffering  I saw  about  me.’ 


220 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


This  does  not  hinder  her  from  adding  to  the 
letter,  which  is  lengthy,  a host  of  details  con- 
cerning current  affairs,  with  the  usual  jokes,  a 
little  heavy,  which  serve  to  season  her  familiar 
correspondence.  After  giving  herself  up  to 
her  impressions,  she  returns  to  herself,  and  she 
explains  it  all : — 

‘On  Friday  I seemed  to  turn  to  stone.  ...  I 
who  am  so  given  to  weeping,  saw  death  without 
a tear.  I said  to  myself : “If  thou  weep,  the 
others  will  sob ; if  thou  sob,  the  others  will  faint, 

and  every  one  will  lose  their  head  and  their 

• . ))  ) 
wits. 

(She  never  lost  her  head)  and,  she  declares  in 
one  of  her  Tetters,  she  never  fainted.  Whenever 
she  has  to  play  a part,  to  take  an  attitude,  and, 
by  her  example,  to  impose  it  upon  others,  she  is 
always  ready.  In  August  1790  she  thinks 
seriously  of  accompanying  the  army  reserve  to 
Finland.  ‘Had  it  been  needful,’ she  said  after- 
wards, ‘ I should  have  left  my  bones  in  the  last 
battalion.  I have  never  known  fear.’ 

With  our  present-day  notions,  it  does  not  seem 
a very  signal  proof  of  courage  that  she  gave  in 
1768,  in  being  the  first,  or  almost  the  first,  in  her 
capital  and  in  her  empire,  to  be  inoculated.  For 
the  time  it  was  a great  event,  and  an  act  of 
heroism  celebrated  by  all  her  contemporaries. 
One  need  but  read  the  notes  written  on  the 
subject  by  the  inoculator  himself,  the  Englishman 
Dimsdale,  expressly  brought  over  from  London, 
to  realise  the  idea  that  the  profession  itself  still 
cherished  in  regard  to  the  danger  of  the  opera- 
tion. We  cut  open  or  trepan  a man  to-day  with 
much  less  concern.  Catherine  bared  her  arm  to 


APPEARANCE— CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  221 

the  lancet  on  the  26th  October  1768.  A week 
afterwards  she  had  her  son  inoculated.  On  the 
22nd  of  November  the  members  of  the  legislative 
commission,  and  all  the  chief  dignitaries,  as- 
sembled in  the  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Kasan, 
where  a decree  of  the  senate  was  read,  command- 
ing public  prayers  for  the  occasion  ; after  which 
they  went  in  a body  to  present  their  compliments 
and  thanks  to  her  Majesty.  A boy  of  seven, 
named  Markof,  who  had  been  inoculated  first' of 
all,  in  order  to  use  the  lymph  found  on  him,  was 
ennobled  in  return  for  it,  and  received  the  sur- 
name of  Ospiennyi  = smallpox).  Catherine 

took  a liking  to  him,  and  had  him  brought 
up  under  her  eyes.  The  family  of  this  name, 
now  occupying  a high  position  in  Russia,  owes 
its  fortune  to  this  ancestor.  Dr.  Dimsdale 
received  the  title  of  baron,  the  honorary  charge 
of  the  physicians  in  ordinary  to  her  Majesty,  the 
rank  of  Chancellor  of  State,  and  a pension  of 
^500  sterling.  It  was  certainly  much  ado  about 
nothing;  but  some  years  later,  in  1772,  the  Abbe 
Galiani  announced,  as  still  an  important  piece  of 
news,  the  inoculation  of  the  son  of  the  Prince  of 
San  Angelo  Imperiali  at  Naples,  the  first  that 
had  taken  place  in  that  city.  Li  1768  Voltaire^, 
himself  found  much  to  admire  in  an  Empress^ 
who  had  been  inoculated  ‘ with  less  ceremony 
than  a nun  who  takes  a bath.’  Catherine  is 
perhaps  the  one  who  thought  least  of  her  bravery. 
Before  the  deputations  that  came  to  compliment 
her,  she  thought  it  well  to  take  a serious  air, 
declaring  ‘ that  she  had  done  no  more  than  her 
duty,  for  a shepherd  is  bound  to  give  his  life  for 
his  sheep.’  But,  writing  a few  days  afterwards 


222 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


to  General  Braun,  the  Governor  of  Livonia,  she 
laughs  at  those  who  are  lost  in  admiration  of  her 
courage  : ‘ As  for  courage,  I think  every  little 
urchin  in  the  streets  of  London  has  just  as 
much.’ 

in 

Certainly,  she  possesses  a happy  equilibrium 
of  faculties,  an  excellent  moral  health.  It 
is  this  which  renders  her  easy  to  get  on  with, 
though  she  has  perhaps  less  indulgence  and 
benignity  than  she  would  credit  herself  with,  but 
still  is  in  no  wise  given  to  wrangling,  nor  exces- 
sively hard  to  please,  nor  unreasonably  severe. 
Outside  official  ceremonies,  in  regard  to  which 
she  is  very  particular,  giving  to  them  the  greatest 
possible  lustre,  she  is  full  of  charm  in  her  inter- 
course with  others.  She  has  an  easy  simplicity 
which  puts  every  one  at  ease,  and  which  allows 
her  to  maintain  her  own  rank,  and  to  keep  others 
in  their  proper  place,  without  her  appearing  to 
give  the  matter  a thought.  On  the  birth  of  her 
grandson,  Alexander,  she  falls  to  regretting  that 
there  are  no  more  fairies  ‘to  endow  little  children 
with  all  one  would  like  them  to  have,’  and  she 
writes  to  Grimm;  ‘For  my  part,  I would  give 
them  nice  presents,  and  I would  whisper  in 
their  ear : “ Ladies,  be  natural,  only  be  natural, 
and  experience  will  do  pretty  well  all  the  rest.”  ’ 
She  is  bon  enfant,  and  puts  on  a familiar  manner. 
She  hits  her  secretary  in  the  ribs  with  a roll  of 
paper,  and  tells  him  : ‘ .Some  day  1 will  kill  you 
like  that.’  In  corresponding  with  her  master  of 
the  horse,  M.  Eck,  she  writes : ‘ Monsieur  mon 
voisin.’ 


APPEARANCE— CHARA  CTER— TEMPERAMENT  223 

The  Prince  de  Ligne  recounts  an  episode  of 
the  tour  in  the  Crimea,  when  she  took  it  into  her 
head  to  be  thee’d  and  thou’d  by  every  one,  and  to 
tutoyer  them  in  return.  This  whim  often  returned 
to  her.  ‘You  cannot  conceive,’  she  writes  to 
Grimm,  ‘ how  I love  to  be  tutoyde  ; I wish  it  were 
done  all  over  Europe.’  Then  hear  her  account 
of  her  relations  with  Mme.  Todi,  a famous prima 
donna,  whose  talent  she  could  not  appreciate,  but 
whom  she  was  willing  to  pay  very  liberally.  This 
was  at  Tzarskoie-Sielo  : — 

‘ Mme.  Todi  is  here,  and  she  is  always  about 
with  her  husband.  Very  often  we  meet  face  to 
face,  always  however  without  coming  in  collision. 
I say  to  her  : “ Good-morning  or  good-evening, 
Mme.  Todi,  how  do  you  do?”  She  kisses  my 
hands,  and  I her  cheek ; our  dogs  smell  one 
another ; she  takes  hers  under  her  arm,  I call 
mine,  and  we  both  go  on  our  way.  When  she 
sings,  I listen  and  applaud,  and  we  both  say  that 
we  get  on  very  well  together.’ 

She  carries  her  condescension  in  the  matter  of 
sociability  to  great  lengths.  If  any  one  ventures 
to  criticise  her  choice  of  friends  and  lovers,  she 
replies  : ‘ Before  being  what  I am  I was  thirty- 
three  years  what  others  are,  and  it  is  not  quite 
twenty  years  that  I have  been  what  they  are  not. 
And  that  teaches  one  how  to  live.’  On  the  other 
hand  she  makes  merry  at  the  expense  of  the  great : 
‘ Do  you  know  why  I dread  Kings’  visits  ? Be- 
cause they  are  generally  tiresome,  insipid  people, 
and  you  have  to  be  stiff  and  formal  with  them. 
These  persons  of  renown  pay  much  respect  to 
my  unaffected  ways,  and  I would  show  them  all 
my  wit ; sometimes  I show  it  by  listening  to 


224  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

them,  and  as  I love  to  chatter,  the  silence  bores 
me.’ 

Her  proverbial  munificence  is  not  only  in 
ostentation.  Grimm  often  distriouted  large  sums 
for  her  anonymously.  And  she  puts  a charming 
grace  and  delicacy  in  some  of  her  gifts.  ‘Your 
Royal  Highness,’  she  writes  to  the  Comte  d’ Artois, 
who  is  leaving  Russia,  ‘ wishes,  doubtless,  to 
make  some  small  presents  to  the  people  who 
have  done  you  service  during  your  stay  here. 
But,  as  you  know,  I have  forbidden  all  commerce 
and  communication  with  your  unhappy  France, 
and  you  will  seek  in  vain  to  buy  any  trinkets  in 
the  city ; there  are  none  in  Russia  save  in  my 
cabinet;  and  I hope  your  Highness  will  accept 
these  from  his  affectionate  friend  Catherine.’ 

What  she  lacks,  in  this  as  in  so  many  things, 
is  moderation.  She  is  well  aware  of  it  herself, 
and  admits  : ‘ I know  not  how  to  give  ; I give  too 
much  or  not  enough.’  One  would  say  that  her 
destiny,  in  raising  her  to  such  a height,  has  taken 
from  her  the  sense  of  proportions.  She  is  either 
prodigal  or  miserly.  When  she  has  exhausted 
her  resources  by  her  excessive  expenditure  and 
liberalities  she  has  ‘ a heart  of  stone  ’ for  the  most 
worthy,  the  most  just,  demands  upon  her.  She 
gives  a third  of  his  pension  to  Prince  Viazemski 
on  his  retirem'ent.  He  has  served  her  for  thirty 
years,  and  she  has  appreciated  his  services,  but  he 
has  ceased  to  please  her.  The  poor  man  dies  of 
vexation. 

With  those  who  please  her,  as  long  as  they 
have  that  good  fortune,  she  knows  no  stint.  In 
1781,  when  Count  Branicki  married  a niece  of 
Patiomkine,  she  gave  500,000  roubles  as  a 


APPEARANCE— CHARA  CTER—  TEMPERA  ME  NT  225 

marriage  portion  to  the  bride,  and  the  same 
amount  to  her  husband,  to  pay  his  debts.  One 
day  she  amused  herself  with  imagining  how  the 
principal  people  at  her  court  might  meet  their 
end.  Ivan  Tchernichef  would  die  of  rage. 
Countess  Roumiantsof  of  having  shuffled  the 
cards  too  much,  Mme.  Vsievolodsky  of  an  excess 
of  sighs  ; and  so  forth.  She  herself  would  die — 
of  complaisance. 

It  is  not  only  complaisance,  there  iS  in  her  an 
instinctive  generosity  which  comes  out  in  more 
than  one  way.'“'Wi'th  those  whom  she  honours 
with  her  confidence  she  has  none  of  that 
facile  change  of  front  so  common  to  her  sex. 
She  is  incapable  of  suspicion.  One  of  the  foreign 
artists  whom  she  had  commissioned  to  make 
considerable  purchases  for  her  gallery  at  the 
Hermitage,  Reiffenstein — the  ‘divine’  Reiffen- 
stein,  as  she  called  him — fancied  his  honesty 
suspected.  Grimm,  who  acted  as  intermediary, 
became  anxious  about  it. 

‘ Begone  with  your  notes  and  accounts,  both 
of  you!’  wrote  the  Empress  to  the  latter.  ‘ I 
never  suspected  either  of  you  in  my  life.  Why 
do  you  trouble  me  with  stingy,  useless  things 
of  that  sort  ? ’ 

She  added  : ‘No  one  about  me  has  insinuated 
anything  against  /e  divin'  Grimm  could  well 
believe  her,  for  she  was  absolutely  averse  to 
this  kind  of  insinuation,  so  much  favoured  in 
courts.  In  general,  any  one  did  but  do  a bad  turn 
for  himself  by  saying  evil  of  others.  Patiomkine 
himself  experienced  this  in  trying  to  shake  the 
credit  of  Prince  Viazemski. 

If  there  was  need,  however,  to  serve  or  defend 


226  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

her  friends,  she  was  ready  to  do  anytl;ing,  in 
total  forgetfulness  of  her  rank.  She  learns,  for 
instance,  that  Mme.  Ribas,  the  wife  of  an  Italian 
adventurer  whom  she  has  made  Admiral,  is  in 
childbed.  She  jumps  into  the  first  carriage  that 
she  finds  at  the  gate  of  the  palace,  enters  like  a 
whirlwind  into  the  room  of  her  friend,  turns  up 
her  sleeves,  and  puts  on  an  apron.  ‘Now  there 
are  two  of  us,’  she  says  to  the  midwife ; ‘ let  us 
do  our  best’  It  often  happens  that  advantage  is 
taken  of  this  well-known  characteristic.  ‘ They 
know  I am  good  to  bother,’  she  says.  Is  she 
simply  ‘good,’  in  reality?  Yes,  in  her  way,  which 
assuredly  is  not  the  way  of  everybody.  The 
absolute  mistress  of  forty  millions  of  men  is  not 
‘everybody.’  Mme.  Vig^e- Lebrun  dreamed  of 
painting  the  portrait  of  the  great  sovereign. 

‘ Take,’  said  some  one,  ‘ the  map  of  the  empire  of 
Russia  for  canvas,  the  darkness  of  ignorance  for 
background,  the  spoils  of  Poland  for  drapery, 
human  blood  for  colouring,  the  monuments  of  her 
reign  for  the  cartoon,  and  for  the  shadow  six 
months  of  her  son’s  reign.’  There  is  some  truth 
in  this  sombre  picture,  but  it  wants  shading.  At 
the  moment  of  the  terrible  uprising  of  Pougatchef, 
sharp  as  was  Catherine  in  the  repression  of  a 
revolt  which  put  her  empire  to  the  stake,  she  bids 
General  Panine  use  no  more  than  the  indispensable 
severity.  After  the  capture  of  the  rebel,  she  does 
her  best  to  succour  the  victims  of  this  terrible  civil 
war.  Yet,  in  Poland,  the  conduct  of  her  generals 
is  for  the  most  part  atrocious,  and  she  never 
interferes.  She  even  compliments  Souvarof  after 
the  massacre  which  accompanies  the  taking  of 
Warsaw.  And  in  this  empire  of  hers,  ‘ from  which 


1.) 


APPEARANCE— CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  227 

the  light  now  comes,’  the  knout  still  bears  sway, 
the  stick  still  falls  on  the  bleeding  shoulders  of 
the  serf.  She  lets  knout  and  stick  do  their  work. 
How  is  this  to  be  understood  ? 

It  is  needful  first  of  all  to  realise  the  conception 
— a well-reasoned  and  elaborated  conception — of 
the  position  of  the  sovereign  and  of  the  exigencies  ^ 
of  that  position,  which  obtained  in  the  mind  of 
this  autocratic  ruler.  We  cannot  make  war  with- 
out dead  or  wounded,  nor  can  we  subdue  a people 
jealous  of  its  liberty  without  stifling  its  resistance 
in  blood.  Having  resolved  on  the  annexation  of 
Poland — rightly  or  wrongly,  need  not  be  discussed 
here — it  was  necessary  to  accept  all  the  con- 
sequences of  the  enterprise.  This  Catherine 
did,  taking  upon  herself,  calmly  and  frankly,  the 
entire  responsibility  of  the  affair.  Calmly,  for, 
in  these  matters,  reasons  of  state  alone  influence 
her ; they  take  the  place  of  conscience,  and  even 
of  feeling.  Frankly,  for  she  is  not  a hypocrite. 
An  actress  ever,  and  of  the  first  order,  by  reason 
of  her  position,  which  is  nothing  but  a part  to 
play.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  French  envoy 
Durand  could  say  of  her  : ‘ My  experience  is  quite 
useless  ; the  woman  is  more  false  than  our  women 
are  tricky.  I can  say  no  more.’  But  she  was 
never  a hyprocrite  by  preference,  for  the  pleasure 
of  deceiving,  like  so  many ; nor  by  need  of 
deceiving  herself.  ‘ She  was  too  proud  to  deceive,’ 
said  the  Prince  de  Ligne. 

In  what  she  did,  or  suffered  to  be  done,  in 
Poland,  she  has  had  many  imitators,  beginning 
with  the  pious  Maria  Theresa  herself.  Only 
Maria  Theresa  mingled  her  tears  with  the  blood 
that  she  shed.  ‘ She  is  always  crying  and 


228  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Stealing,’  said  Frederick.  Catherine  keeps  dry- 
eyed. 

Catherine,  too,  followed  a different  principle 
of  government.  A sovereign,  however  absolute, 
cannot  be  everywhere  at  once.  Souvarof  has 
orders  to  take  Warsaw.  He  takes  it.  How  ? 
That  is  his  affair,  not  that  of  any  one  else.  The 
principle  is  contestable,  but  we  have  not  to  discuss 
political  theories  in  a study  of  character. 

Finally,  Catherine  is  a Russian  sovereign, 
and  the  Russia  of  the  eighteenth  century,  with- 
out  gc  ig  further,  is  a country  where  European 
ideas  in  , regard  to  justice  and  sentiment  are 
quite  out  of  place,  w'^here  both  moral  and 
physical  sensibility  seem  to  obey  different  laws. 
In  1766,  during  the  Empress’s  stay  at  Peterhof, 
a sudden  alarum  one  night  startles  her  Majesty 
and  all  about  her.  There  is  great  excitement 
and  confusion.  It  turns  out  that  a lackey,  who 
has  been  making  love  to  one  of  the  waiting- 
maids  of  Catherine,  has  caused  all  this  fright. 
He  is  brought  to  trial,  and  condemned  to 
receive  a hundred  and  one  strokes  of  the  knout, 
which  is  practically  equivalent  to  a sentence  of 
death,  to  have  his  nose  slit,  to  be  branded  on 
the  forehead  with  a hot  iron,  and  to  end  his 
days  in  Siberia,  if  he  recovers.  No  one  has 
ahy thing  to  say  against  the  sentence.  It  is 
after  such  traits,  and  on  the  scale  of  notions, 
sentiments,  and  sensations,  apparently  proper 
to  the  surroundings  in  which  they  have  root, 
that  we  require  to  judge  a sovereign  who, 
politically  speaking,  could  certainly  not  claim 
the  title  of  ‘ most  gracious.’ 

Apart  from  politics,  Catherine  is  an  adored 


APPEARANCE— CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  229 

and  adorable  sovereign.  Those  about  her  have 
nothing  but  praise  for  her  dealings.  Her 
servants  are  spoilt  children.  The  story  of  the 
chimney-sweep  is  well  known.  Always  an  early 
riser,  in  order  to  work  more  quietly  in  the 
silence  of  the  early  hours,  the  Empress  some- 
times lights  her  own  fire,  so  as  not  to  disturb 
any  one.  One  morning,  as  she  sets  the  faggots 
in  a blaze,  she  hears  piercing  cries  from  the 
chimney,  followed  by  a volley  of  abuse.  She 
understands,  quickly  puts  out  the  fis^e,  and 
humbly  proffers  her  excuses  to  the  priitr  little 
chimney-sweep  whom  she  had  nearly  roasted 
alive.  There  are  thousands  of  similar  stories 
told  of  her.  One  day,  the  Countess  Bruce 
enters  the  Empress’s  bedroom  and  finds  her 
Majesty  alone,  half-dressed,  with  her  arms  folded 
in  the  attitude  of  one  who  is  waiting  patiently  be- 
cause she  is  obliged  to  wait.  Seeing  her  surprise, 
Catherine  explains  the  case — 

‘What  do  you  think  ? my  waiting- maids  have 
all  deserted  me.  I had  been  trying  on  a dress 
which  fitted  so  badly  that  I lost  my  temper ; 
so  they  left  me  like  this  . . . and  I am  waiting 
till  they  have  cooled  down.’ 

One  day  she  sends  Grimm  an  almost  inde- 
cipherable letter,  and  thus  excuses  herself — 

‘ My  valets  de  chambre  give  me  two  new 
pens  a day,  but  when  they  are  worn  out  I never 
venture  to  ask  for  more,  but  I turn  and  turn 
them  again  as  best  I can.’ 

One  evening,  after  ringing  in  vain  for  sornie  time, 
she  goes  into  the  anteroom  and  finds  these  same 
valets  de  chambre  absorbed  in  a game  of  cards. 
She  offers  one  of  them  to  take  his  place  so  that 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


230 

she  can  finish  the  game  for  him,  while  he  can 
do  an  urgent  errand  for  her.  She  catches  some 
servants  in  the  act  of  making  off  with  ^ pro- 
visions intended  for  her  table.  ‘ Let  this  be 
the  last  time,’  she  says,  with  severity;  then  she 
adds : ‘ And  now,  be  off  quickly,  or  the  mar^ckal 
de  la  cour  will  catch  you.’  She  sees  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  palace  an  old  woman  running  after 
a fowl,  and  soon  the  valets  are  running  after  the 
old  woman,  anxious  to  show  their  zeal  under  the 
eyes  of  the  Empress.  For  this  fowl  is  a fowl 
‘belonging  to  her  Majesty’s  treasure,’  and  the 
woman  is  the  grandmother  of  a court  scullion  ; 
a double  crime.  Catherine,  after  making  in- 
quiries, orders  a fowl  to  be  given  every  day  to 
the  poor  old  soul,  but  a fowl  ready  trussed.^ 

She  keeps  by  her,  despite  her  infirmities,  an 
old  German  nurse,  whom  she  watches  over  with 
the  greatest  care.  ‘ I feared  her,’  she  writes 
to  Grimm,  announcing  her  death,  ‘as  I dread 
fire,  or  the  visits  of  kings  and  great  people. 
Whenever  she  saw  me,  she  would  seize  me  by 
the  head,  and  kiss  me  again  and  again  till  she 
half  stifled  me.  And  she  always  smelt  of 
tobacco,  which  her  respected  husband  used 
largely.’ 

Nevertheless,  she  is  far  from  being  patient, 
for  naturally  she  is  quick-tempered,  too  quick- 
tempered. Her  fits  of  rage  are  one  of  her 
most  noticeable  defects.  Grimm  compares  her 
to  Etna,  and  she  delights  in  the  comparison. 
She  calls  the  volcano  ‘ my  cousin,’  and  fre- 
quently asks  for  news  of  it.  For  she  knows 
her  defect,  and  it  is  this  that  enables  her 
to  combat  it  effectually.  If  she  gives  way  to 


APPEARANCE— CHARACTER— TEMPERAMIiWr  " 231 

the  first  paroxysm  of  anger,  she  immediately 
recovers  command  of  herself.  If  it  is  in  her 
private  room,  she  turns  up  her  sleeves  with  a 
gesture  to  which  she  is  accustomed,  and  begins 
to  walk  to  and  fro,  drinking  glass  after  glass 
of  water.  Never  does  she  give  an  order  or 
a signature  in  one  of  these  passing  fits  of  rage. 
In  her  speech  she  gives  way  sometimes  to 
undignified  expressions,  as  in  her  sallies  against 
Gustave  III.  during  the  war  with  Sweden. 
'Canaille'  in  French  and  ' Bestie'  in  German 
are  too  often  part  of  her  vocabulary.  She 
always,  however,  regrets  what  she  has  done  or 
said,  and,  in  course  of  time,  so  strictly  does 
she  watch  over  and  restrain  herself,  she  attains 
to  a bearing  which  makes  this  weakness  of  her 
character  or  temperament  seem  almost  incredible. 

‘ She  said  to  me  slowly,’  writes  the  Prince 
de  Ligne,  ‘that  she  had  been  extremely  quick- 
tempered, which  one  could  scarcely  believe.  . . . 
Her  three  bows  a la  Russe  are  made  always 
in  the  same  way  in  entering  a room,  one  to 
the  left,  one  to  the  right,  and  one  in  the  middle. 
Everything  in  her  was  measured,  methodical. 
. . . She  loves  to  repeat  ‘J’ai  de  I’imperturba- 
bilit^,’  taking  a quarter  of  an  hour  to  say  the  word.’ 

Senac  de  Meilhan,  who  visited  Russia  in 
1750,  confirms  these  characteristics.  In  one  of 
his  letters,  dated  from  St.  Petersburg,  he 
speaks  of  the  inexpressible  impression  of  tran- 
quillity and  serenity  with  which  the  appearance 
of  Catherine  before  the  court  is  always  accom- 
panied. She  does  not  affect  the  rigidity  of  a 
statue.  She  looks  round  her  with  eyes  that 
seem  to  see  everything.  She  speaks  slowly, 


232  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

not  as  if  seeking  for  words,  but  as  if  choosing 
quietly  those  that  suit  her. 

Nevertheless,  to  the  end  of  her  life,  Catherine 
kept  to  her  habit  of  pinning  her  serviette  under 
her  chin  on  sitting  down  to  table.  ‘ She  could 
not  otherwise,’  as  she  frankly  avows,  ‘eat  an 
egg,  without  dropping  half  of  it  on  her  collerette.’ 


IV 

^ Her  temperament  is  particularly  lively,  san- 
guine, and  impetuous.  This  appears,  we  know 
well,  in  more  than  one  aspect  of  her  private  life. 
\To  this  we  shall  have  to  return.  Let  us  say  here 
that  the  shamelessness  of  her  morals,  which  it 
would  be  idle  to  try  to  attenuate,  does  not  seem 
to  have  its  root  in  any  constitutional  vice.  She 
is  neither  hysterical  nor  tainted  with  nympho- 
mania. 1 1 is  a sensual  woman  who,  being  E mpress, 
gives  free  course  to  her  senses,  imperially.  What 
she  does  in  this  order  of  things  is  done  as  she 
does  everything  else,  quietly,  imperturbably — we 
might  almost  say  methodically.  She  gives  way 
to  no  bewilderments  of  imagination,  to  no  dis- 
order of  nerves.  Love  with  her  is  but  the  natural 
function  of  a physic^al  and  moral  organism  en- 
dowed with  exceptional  energy,  and  it  has  the 
same  imperious  character,  the  same  lasting  power, 
as  the  other  phenomena  of  her  life.  She  is  still 
amorous  at  sixty-seven  ! 

Her  other  tastes  are  those  of  a person  well- 
balanced,  both  mentally  and  physically.  She  loves 
the  arts,  and  the  society  of  intelligent  and  learned 
people.  She  loves  nature.  Gardening,  ‘planto- 
mania’as  she  calls  it,  is  one  of  her  favourite  occupa- 


appearance— CjuARA  CTER—  TEMPERAMENT  233 

tions.  /31<)tre  that  though  she  adores  flowers,  she 
cannot  endur<;  too  strong  perfumes,  that  of  musk  in 
particular.  £very  day,  at  a fixed  hour,  which  a bell 
announcerto  the  winged  population,  she  appears  at 
a windovV  of  the  palace  and  throws  out  crumbs  to 
tV>p  .tlousands  of  birds  that  are  accustomed  to  come 
to  her  to  be  fed.  Elizabeth  used  to  feed  frogs, 
which  were  expressly  kept  in  the  park  : one  sees 
the  difference,  the  morbid,  extravagant  note.  In 
•Catherine  there  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  She  likes 
birds,  dogs,  who  play  a considerable  part  in  her 
private  life,  horses  too  ^ she  likes  animals  in 
general,  but  she  prefer^  those  which  are  more 
generally  liked.  All  that  is  very  simple,  very 
natural,  very  normal. 

Elizabeth  led  an  irregular  life,  turning  night 
into  day,  never  having  a fixed  hour  for  anything. 

\ Catherine  is  regularity  itself ; always  early  to  bed, 
up  with  the  dawn,  fitting  in  her  occupations  as 
well  as  her  pleasures  with  a programme  that  she 
has  made  out  beforehand,  and  that  she  carries  out^ 
without  deviation.^  Elizabeth  used  to  get  drunk^' 
Catherine  is  sober,  eating"  little,  only  drinking  a 
mouthful  of  wine  at.  her  principal  meal,  never 
taking  supper.  In  public  and  in  private,  save  for 
the  mysteries  of  the  alcove,  she  is  perfectly  correct 
in  demeanour,  never  allowing  an  impropriety  in 
conversation.  And  in  this  there  is  no  hypocrisy, 
for  she  shows,  and  indeed  shows  off,  her  lovers. 

In  order  to  find  something  unnatural,  abnor- 
mal, in  her,  some  have  laid  emphasis  on  her  sup- 
posed indifference  to  family  feeling.  The  point 
is  susceptible  of  controversy.  She  despised  and 
detested  her  husband,  if  she  did  not  kill  him  or 
let  him  be  killed  ; and  she  was  not  tender  towards 


234  ""  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

her  son,  if  she  did  not  think  of  disinheriting  him. 
Still  it  must  be  remembered  what  this  husband 
and  this  son  really  were,  both  to  her  and  to 
Russia.  She  never  saw  again  her  only  brother, 
never  having  allowed  him  to  come  and  see  her, 
though  she  only  survived  him  by  three  years. 
That  was  a matter  of  policy.  She  found  that 
there  were  ..Germans  enough  in  Russia,  herself 
among  the  number.  With  her,  it  is  certain,  the 
head  always  ruled  the  heart,  and,  though  German,, 
she  was  by  no  means  sentimental.  But  she  was, 
as  we  shall  see,  a delightful  grandmother,  and  she 
was  passionately  fond  of  children. 

^ H er  shameless  sensuality  thus  seems  an  iso- 
j lated  phenomenon,  without  connection  with  any 
other  in  her  temperament.  Perhaps  this  is  only 
in  appearance  ; perhaps  we  should  seek  a certain 
/ connection,  if  not  the  relation  of  cause  to  effect, 
^ between  this  side  of  her  nature  and  another  that 
we  are  about  to  look  into,  that  is  to  say,  the 
intellectual  culture  of  one  who  loved  to  call 
herself  the  pupil  of  Voltaire.  If,  indeed,  there 
/ is  method  in  this  madness  of  the  senses,  which 
/ she  does  not  lose  even  in  middle  age,  there 
is  also  a certain  lofty  cynicism,  a certain  tran- 
quil assurance,  which  a physiological  peculiarity, 
anomaly  if  you  will,  is  not  sufficient  to  explain. 
The  philosophical  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century 
1 has  passed  over  it,  and  not  only  the  spirit  of  the 
\ age  of  Brantome. 

V 

^ Catherine  is  a great  temperament,  not  a great 
^intellect.  She  herself  did  not  pretend  to  ‘a 
/ creative  mind.’  Nevertheless  she  prides  herself 


APPEARANCE  -CHARACTER— TEMPERAMENT  235 

on  her  originality.  ‘All  my  life,’  she  wntes  to 
Mme.  de  Bielke,  ‘ I never  could  tolerate  imita- 
tion, and,  to  put  it  bluntly,  I am  as  much  of  an 
original  as  the  most  determined  Englishman.’ 
But  it  is  in  her  tastes,  her  habits,  her  modes 
of  action,  that  is  to  say  in  her  temperament  rather 
than  in  her  mind,  that  we  must  look  for  this 
personal  note.  There  is  not  a single  new  idea  in 
her  Instruction  for  the  laws,  written  at  the  age  of 
thirty-six,  in  the  full  vigour  of, her  intellectual 
faculties.  It  is  the  second-rate  work  of  a student 
of  rhetoric,  who  has  been  given  as  a task  the 
analysis  of  Montesquieu  and  Beccaria,  and  who 
has  done  creditably,  but  without  showing  any 
great  talent.  This  work,  nevertheless,  gives  her 
enormous  trouble.  At  the  end  of  March  1765 
she  has  been  toiling  at  it  for  two  months,  at  the 
rate  of  three  hours  a day.  Her  best  hours,  in 
the  morning,  are  given  up  to  this  work.  By  the 
middle  of  June  she  has  covered  sixty-four  pages, 
and  she  feels  that  she  has  made  a considerable 
effort.  She  is  quite  worn  out.  ‘ I have  emptied 
my  sack,’ she  writes,  ‘and,  after  this,  I shall  not 
write  another  word  for  the  rest  of  my  life.’  We 
have  all  known  these  vows,  and,  too,  this  im- 
pression of  weariness  at  the  end  of  the  first  long 
effort.  But  having  regard  to  the  actual  result, 
this  author’s  trouble  is  almost  laughable.  The 
sack,  too,  that  she  had  emptied,  or  thought  she 
had  emptied,  was  easy  to  replace,  for  it  was  not 
hers.  She  found  plenty  more  in  turn.A 

Had  she  then  nothing  of  her  own.?  r Yes,  much 
good  sense,  to  begin  with,  joined,  singularly 
enough,  to  a great  wealth  of  imagination.  She 
passed  the  thirty-four  years  of  her  reign  in  build- 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSH  A 


236 

ing  castles  in  the  air,  magnificent  buildings, 
founded  on  nothing,  and  evaporating  in  space  at 
. the  least  breath.  But  the  day  came  when  one 
stone,  a single  stone,  was  placed  in  the  soil,  as  if 
by  miracle,  at  the  angle  of  the  fantastic  edifice. 
It  was  Catherine  who  had  planted  It  there.  The 
Russian  people,  this  good  people  which  has  not 
yet  come  to  realise  itself,  nor  to  dispute  with 
those  who  govern  it,  did  the  rest.  It  brought  its 
sweat  and  blood,  and,  like  the  Egyptian  colossi, 
where  the  effort  of  thousands  of  unknown 
existences  is  superposed,  the  edifice  rose  and 
assumed  tangible  form.  The  conquest  of  the 
Taurida  was  thus  accomplished.  This  was  one 
of  Catherine’s  dreams,  put  in  action  and  trans- 
lated into  a novel  of  adventures  by  Patiomkine. 
But  the  corner-stone  appeared  suddenly  in  a 
port  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  the  Crimea  of  to-day 
was  then  created. 

/Nevertheless  Catherine  fascinated,  and  even 
dazzled,  by  her  qualities  of  mind  the  most  part 
of  those  to  whom  she  gave  the  chance  of  judg- 
ing ; men  of  a superior  order  of  intellect,  such 
as  Diderot,  for  example.  It  was  an  effect  of 
mirage,  it  seems  to  us,  the  artificial  product  of 
a kind  of  fascination  in  which  there  were  many 
elements  ; a superior  force  of  will,  the  supreme  art 
of  mise  en  scene  that  we  know  already,  and  a third 
I element,  surprising,  unlooked  for,  well-nigh  in- 
/ credible  in  this  German  of  the  North — a heat 
/ and  fire  which  are  extraordinary,  overpowering, 
which  seem  as  if  they  must  be  Southern  by 
birth.  Judging  by  the  reports  of  her  way  of 
talking,  the  flow  and  colour  of  words  which 
1 crowd  from  her  lips,  the  absolute  volubility  which 


/ 


/ 


I I 

I 

APPEARANCE— CHAR  ACTER— TEMPERAMENT  237 

she  manifests  at  every  turn,  Catherine  is  a true 
Southern.  ‘She  loved  to  chatter,’ she  said,  and 
Grimm  despaired  of  being  able  to  preserve  for 
posterity  any  idea  of  what  her  conversation  was. 

‘ One  must  have  seen,  at  those  moments,  this 
singular  head,  made  up  of  genius  and  of  grace, 
to  form  an  idea  of  the  fire  that  swayed  her,  the 
shafts  that  she  let  fly,  the  sallies  that  pressed, 
jostling,  so  to  speak,  and  tumbling  on  one 
another,  like  the  limpid  waters  of  a natural 
waterfall.  Had  it  only  been  in  my  power  to 
take  down  literally  these  conversations,  the 
world  would  have  possessed  a precious  and 
perhaps  unique  fragment  of  the  history  of  the 
human  mind.  The  imagination  and  the  judgment 
were  equally  impressed  by  this  profound  and  rapid 
sweep  of  vision,  whose  immense  reach  passed  like 
a flash.  And  how  could  one  seize,  on  the  sudden 
wing,  all  these  fine,  fugitive  traits  of  light  ? ’ 

What  Grimm  dared  not  attempt,  Catherine 
has  essayed  to  do  herself.  In  1780,  the  day 
after  a conversation  which  had  astonished  Count 
Ivan  Tchernichef,  she  sent  him,  at  his  request, 
a literal  report  of  it.  This  fragment  has  been 
preserved,  and  it  is  curious.  Must  we  confess 
that  it  is  somewhat  deceptive?  It  reminds  us  of 
an  observation  that  an  old  savant,  who  had  reached 
the  extreme  limits  of  human  existence,  and  who 
was  an  enfant  terrible  on  occasion,  made  before 
us  one  day  to  a politician  afflicted  with  the  mania 
of  publishing,  in  the  least  offlcial  of  quarters, 
speeches  that  the  House  had  not  always  heard  : 
‘ Excuse  me,  sir,  I see  at  every  moment,  in  what 
you  have  given  me  to  read,  the  words : Sen- 
sation, prolonged  applause,  uproar.  But  though 


238  CATHERINE  II.  0.7  RUSSIA 

I have  looked  for  it,  I can  see  nothing  extra' 
ordinary  in  all  you  say.’ 

It  is  a somewhat  similar  impression  that  we 
receive  on  reading  the  famous  report.  We  look 
in  vain  for  the  brilliant  sayings,  the  sallies  of  wit, 
the  sparks  of  genius,  of  which  Grimm  tells  us. 

To  begin  with,  there  is  a quotation  from  the 
P/aideurs  of  Racine,  ‘ Ma  foi,  sur  I’avenir  bien 
fou  qui  se  fiera,’  serving  as  motto  to  flights  of 
political  prophesying,  in  which  ‘ the  eagle  eye  ’ 
is  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

‘ I predict  that  France,  Austria,  Prussia,  and 
Russia  will  clash  together  for  a time,  will  do 
one  another  grievous  hurt,  and  aid  one  another 
in  turn,  and  will  all  four  arrive  at  the  highest 
pitch  of  glory.’ 

This  resembles  the  deliverance  of  an  extra- 
lucid  somnambulist,  unless  one  chooses  to  see 
in  it  a vision  of  the  wars  of  Europe.  But  did 
Catherine  foresee  the  Revolution,  as  some  have 
alleged  ? We  do  not  see  it,  unless  indeed  it 
be  in  this  phrase : ‘ Buffbn  has  predicted  that 
one  day  a comet  will  hook  on  to  our  globe  and 
carry  it  with  it.  I fancy  that  its  course  will  be 
from  west  to  east.’  But  this  is  the  veriest  style 
of  fortune-telling,  and  Mile.  Lenormand  would 
not  have  expressed  it  better.  The  mistakes 
of  the  King  of  France  could  not  but  strike 
the  penetrating  mind  of  the  Czarina.  Two  years 
before  she  said  to  Count  Tchernichef : ‘ I do 
not  like  to  see  Marie-Antoinette  laugh  so  much^ 
and  laugh  at  everything.  It  is  true  that  she  is 
a woman,  and  very  much  a woman  ; I am  too, 
somewhat ; in  her  place  and  her  circumstances  I 
should  be  afraid  that  some  one  would  say  : He 


APPEARANC 


who 


laughs ' 
expressive, 
she  saw  truel 
her  sense  of  t1 
of  her  rivals  if 
same  degree. 

— and  both  Fl 
bably  her  infe^i 
more  flexibilii 
had  a more  d | 
incomparable 
But  to  retunH 
tion,  or  rather  or 
an  unhappy  phras^ 

‘ England ! Fanatic! 
ports  it,  fanaticism 
ourselves  what  this  ma 
have  suggested  it.  It 
actuality  of  the  moment! 
present  day  journalists. 

London  has  just  been  thdl 
movement  against  the  Cathor 
ambitious  and  unscrupulous 
the  traditional  cry  of  ‘No  Po 
twenty  thousand  fanatics  has 
Westminster,  and  the  members  o 
have  themselves  been  somewhat  violeni 
In  this  passing  crisis  Catherine 
historic  law. 

Then  follow  some  philosophical  consider 
‘ One  may  have  wit,  talent,  morals, 
reason,  as  much  as  you  will ; but  not 
success,  fortune,  and  especially  favour.’ 

That  is  not  very  new,  nor  very  profound, 
even  very  true.  For  talented  and  virtuo 


Lint  of  their 
ftener,  than 
money-bags, 
commonplace 

and  is  some- 
rich  have  an 
, since  kings 
se  who  have 

n inspired  in 
ool  of  modern 
ortunes  of  which 
accumulation.  Yet 
not  yet  born.  But 
bxander  of  Macedon 
ughts  ? 

a whole,  we  can  see 
5ut  it  except  the  import- 
:;rself,  and  not  Tchernichef 
attached  to  it.  It  is  true 
doubt  the  most  attractive, 
is  lost  for  us.  The  words 
e accent,  the  impetuous  flow 
well-modulated  voice,  had  not 
-cess  of  their  own,  the  true  orator’s 

our  words,  divine  Princess,  there  is 
method  nor  order.  There  is  that  sove- 
ind  incomprehensible  spirit  with  which  you 
owered.’  Thus  did  Field-Marshal  Munich 
:ss  himself  in  a letter  addressed  to  the 
iress  a few  months  after  her  accession, 
eloquence  of  Catherine  had,  for  him  also, 
s enigmatic  side. 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


241 


CHAPTER  II 

IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 

/■  \/ 

With  the  temperament  that  we  have  seen,\^ 
Catherine  could  not  well  be  a woman  with  prin- 

(ciples,  at  least  immutable  principles,  nor  with 
formulated  ideas.  Her  fixed  ideas,  which  she 
has  often  had,  were  so  only  for  the  moment ; 
they  were  comets,  not  the  guiding  stars  of  > 
her  life. 

One  point,  however,  on  which  she  never  varies, 
is  the  national  character,  essentially  Russian,  that 
she  impresses  on  her  ^vgynment.  and  that  she 
seeks  to  extend  to  the  entire  development,  politi- 
cal, intellectual,  and  moral,  of  the  Slavonic  people, 
over  whose  destinies  she,  a German  princess, 
has  been  called  to  preside.  Not  only  the  admi- 
nistrative and  legislative  acts  of  her  reign, 
but  her  slightest  sayings  and  doings  bear  the 
trace  of  this  constant  preoccupation.  Falconet 
had  hard  work  not  to  invest  Peter  I.  'with  the 
national  Russian  costume  that  the  Czar  was  so 
emphatic  in  forbidding  throughout  his  empire. 
Catherine  would  have  had  this  trait  in  the  history 
of  the  great  reformer  forgotten.  She  would  have 
imposed,  not  merely  upon  the  present,  but  upon 
the  past,  of  her  adopted  country,  a whole  host 
of  things  contrary  to  the  fact,  but  conformable 
to  the  idea  that  it  had  pleased  her  to  give  her- 
self and  others  in  regard  to  this  land  c of  vast 
horizons,  so  tempting  to  flights  of  fancy.  She 


242  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

would  have  rewritten  in  her  own  way  the  whole 
history  of  the  old  Muscovite  fatherlani  In  1790 
Senac  de  Meilhan  offered  himself  as  historio- 
grapher of  the  empire  : she  hesitated  to  accept 
the  offer.  Would  he  be  willing  to  lay  aside  the 
prejudices  ‘ that  most  strangers  have  against 
Russia  ’ ? — to  the  point  of  believing,  for  example, 

‘ that  before  Peter  the  Great  the  empire  had 
neither  laws  nor  administration.’  Now,  ‘ it  is 
true  that  the  troubles  which  followed  on  the 
death  of  the  Czar  Ivan  Vassilevitch  had  put 
back  Russia  from  forty  to  fifty  years,  but  before 
this  time  it  was  on  the  level  of  the  rest  of 
Europe  . . . the  Grand  Dukes  of  Russia  took 
a prominent  part  in  the  affairs  of  Europe,  and 
were  allied  and  connected  with  all  the  sovereign 
houses  of  our  hemisphere.’ 

After  this  the  poor  Senac  despaired  of  be- 
ing able  to  cope  with  his  task.  But  here  too 
Catherine  was  convinced.  She  wrote  to  Grimm  : 
‘ No  history  furnishes  better  or  greater  men  than 
ours.  I am  passionately  fond  of  this  history.’ 
She  meant,  besides,  to  have  a good  space  given 
to  her  own  reign,  ‘ for  we  live  in  an  age  in  which, 
far  from  hiding  the  lustre  of  things  and  actions, 
it  is  essential  to  sustain  people’s  minds.’  Would 
Senac  consent  to  be  ‘ directed  ’ in  this  respect  ? 

Here  again  we  observe  a trace  of  the  huge 
proportions  which  the  vast  empire,  so  strangely 
become  her  own  property,  had  little  by  little 
attained  in  the  Czarina’s  mind  ; and  we^see  one 
fixed  star  the  more  in  her  firniament.  This 
hyperbolic  idea  of  grandeur, 'applied  to  all  the 
constituent  elements  of  the  national  inheritance, 
to  the  past  as  to  the  present  of  Russia,  to  its 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


243 


extent  as  to  its  population,  to  its  material  power 
as  to  its  moral  worth,  to  its  preponderance  in  the 
Slavonic  world  as  to  its  European  position,  is 
one  of  those  which  never  left  Catherine,  and 
never  lost  its  hold  upon  her.  She  seems  dazzled, 
hallucinated,  and  as  if  hypnotised  before  this 
collossal  conception.  High  as  was  the  opinion 
that  she  had,  and  that  she  wished  others  to  have 
of  herself,  of  the  merits  of  her  government,  and 
of  the  great  events  which  marked  it,  she  did 
not  hesitate  to  make  herself  small  by  comparison  : 
‘All  that  I can  do  for  Russia  is  but  a drop  of 
water  in  the  sea.’ 

Russia  is  the  sea,  the  ocean  with  its  unsounded 
depths,  its  borders  lost  to  sight  in  the  immensity 
of  space.  It  is  for  that  that/  she  has  been  willing 
to  submerge  in  it  her  own  past,  and  the  very 
remembrance  of  her  German  fatherland.  Never- 
theless, it  is  she  who  writes,  in  1782,  complaining 
to  Grimm  of  the  conduct  of  the  Sultan  Abdul- 
Hamid  : ‘ Das  ist  tmmdglich  dass  ich  mir  sollte 
auf  die  Nase  spieleji  lassen.  You  know  that  a 
German  will  never  suffer  that.’  j.  But  her  mind 
is  essentially  mobile,  and,  as  sh^  confesses,  she 
does  not  always  know  what  she  wants,  or  even 
what  she  says,  especially  when  she  chats  with 
her  confidant,  pen  in  hand,  in  her  moments  of 
most  complete  unbending,  after  the  fatigues  of 
her  formidable  task.  But  she  has  conscientiously 
applied  to  herself  her  Russophilist  programme, 
and  she  has  become  Russian  from  head  to  foot, 
not  only  on  the  surface  and  by  an  artifice,  but 
sincerely  and  profoundly,  in  her  mind  and  flesh, 
in  her  most  formal  language,  her  most  familiar 
motion,  her  most  private  thought.  \The  following 


244 


CATHERIXE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


lines  were  probably  seen  by  no  one  till  after  her 
death. 

‘Never  has  the  universe  produced  a creature 
more  manly,  more  solid,  more  frank,  more  human, 
more  benevolent,  more  generous,  more  obliging, 
than  the  Scythian  (Scythian  and  Russian  are 
synonymous  in  her  eyes).  No  man  equals  him 
in  regularity  of  features,  in  beauty  of  face,  in  fine- 
ness of  complexion,  build,  and  stature  ; having 
for  the  most  part  well-nourished,  or  nervous  and 
muscular,  limbs,  a thick  beard,  long  and  bushy 
hair ; naturally  averse  to  all  ruse  and  artifice,  to 
which  his  probity  and  uprightness  are  utterly 
alien.  There  is  not  on  the  earth  a horse-soldier 
or  foot-soldier,  or  sailor,  or  manager  to  equal 
him.  No  one  is  tenderer  to  his  children  and 
his  kinsmen.  He  has  an  inborn  deference  for  his 
parents  and  superiors.  He  is  prompt  and  exact 
in  obedience,  always  faithful.’ 

This  is  quite  a rhapsody ! And  no  doubt 
there  is  something  in  it  of  personal  recollection, 
too  flatteringly  recalled.  In  course  of  time, 
however,  something  more  immaterial,  purer  and 
more  profound,  found  its  way  into  the  love  of 
Russia  that  the  love  of  certain  Russians  gave 
to  Catherine. 

We  must  not  forget,  among  the  ideas  to  which 
she  remained  faithful,  what  has  been  called  the 
great  idea  of  her  reign  : the  Greek  project.  N We 
shall  see  that  she  has  had  it  in  view  from  1 762, 
and  that  she  still  has  it  in  view  on  the  eve  of 
her  death.'^^  It  was  a beautiful  dream,  beautiful 
and  fantastic.  The  resurrection  of  Greece,‘/the 
enfranchisement  of  the  Yougo- Slavs,  mingled 
with  other  equally  dazzling,  but  less  disinterested 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


245 


visions : Constantinople  opening  its  gates  to , 
Christianity^  represented  by  a Russian  army ; 
the  crescent  replaced  on  the  dome  of  St.  Sophia 
by  the  double  Greek  cross,  crowned  by  the  two- 
headed  imperial  eagle.  It  is  on  this  account 
that  the  second  son  of  Paul  is  named  Constantine, 
and  not  Peter  or  Ivan ; it  is  on  this  account 
that  there  is  a Greek  nurse  and  a Greek  servant, 
who  was  afterwards  to  become  an  important  per- 
sonage, Count  Kourouta.  There  was  also  a corps 
of  Greek  cadets,  a Greek  district-government  at 
Kherson,  newly  founded,  and  under  the  charge  of 
Eugene,a  Bulgarian.  Medals  were  struck,  on  which 
were  seen  symbolic  and  suggestive  images  : on 
one  side  the  Empress,  on  the  other  Constantinople 
in  flames,  a minaret  crumbling  into  the  sea,  and 
the  cross  resplendent  in  the  clouds.  The  journal 
of  Chrapowicki  is  not  less  edifying  on  the  subject. 
On  August  17,  1787,  he  considers  a secret  pro- 
ject of  Patiomkine  for  the  capture  of  Bakou  and 
Derbent.  Capital  for  that  could  be  made  out  of 
the  troubles  in  Persia,  and,  by  means  of  other 
connections,  a province  could  be  formed  to  be 
called  Albania,  which  would  serve  as  provisional 
appointment  for  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine. 
On  April  21,  1788,  Moldavia  and  Wallachia 
are  discussed  : these  provinces  should  remain 
independent,  in  order  to  serve  as  nucleus  to 
the  future  iXlaGia,’  that  is  to  say,  the  future 
monarchy^f  Greece.  On  October  9,  1789,  the 
are  dotted.  The  Greeks  need  to  be  ‘stirred 
up  ’ : Constantine  may  take  charge  of  that.  He 
has  a future  before  him.  In  thirty  years  he  will 
have  got  from  Sebastopol  to  Constantinople. 


246 


CA  THERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


II 

( In  1769  the  cause  of  liberty-  lias  no  more 
'i  enthusiastic  defender  in  Europe  than  the  Empress 
of  Russia. 

‘To  the  brave  Corsicans,  defenders  of  liberty 
and  of  their  country,  and,  in  particular,  to  General 
Paoli : Gentlemen ! All  Europe  has  for  many 
years  seen  you  oppose  oppression,  defend  and 
redeem  the  country  from  an  unjust  usurpation, 
and  fight  for  liberty.  It  is  the  duty  of  every 
human  creature  to  aid  and  support  all  who  mani- 
fest sentiments  so  noble,  so  great,  and  so 
natural.’ 

The  letter  is  from  the  hand  of  Catherine,  and 
is  signed  ‘ Your  sincere  friends,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  North  Pole  (sic).’  A sum  of  money  is  added, 
which  passes  in  the  eyes  of  the  brave  Corsicans 
as  the  result  of  a subscription.  This,  doubtless, 
is  in  order  to  spare  them  the  humiliation  of  being 
subventioned  by  an  absolute  monarch,  and  also 
to  make  them  believe  that  there  is,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  ‘ North  Pole,’  a respectable 
number  of  people  capable  of  sympathising  with 
the  cause  they  defend. 

In  1781  Catherine  comes  forward  on  behalf  of 
Necker.  His  famous  Compte  rendu,  which  is 
practically  an  act  of  accusation  against  the  ad- 
ministration of  royal  finances,  that  is  to  say 
against  royalty  itself,  enchants  and  delights 
her.  She  does  not  doubt  that  heaven  has 
destined  the  able  Genevese  for  the  salvation 
of  France. 

Certainly  she  has  not  much  love,  just  then, 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


247 


er  for  France  or  for  the  turn  that  things  are 
ng  there  ; but  in  her  hostile  feelings  the  court 
s as  large,  if  not  larger,  a place  than  the 
people,  and  the  old  rdgime  foundering  under  the 
rising  flood  of  social  claims  has  no  part  in  her 
fa\  our.  This  is  the  impression  we  receive  from 
her  correspondence  with  her  son  and  her  daughter- 
in-law,  during  the  visit  of  their  Imperial  High- 
nesses, in  1782,  to  Paris.  Here  is  a specimen. 
It  is  Catherine  who  writes  : — 

‘ May\  God  bless  her  most  Christian  Majesty, 
her  shows,  her  balls  and  her  plays,  her  rouge 
and  her  beards,  well  or  ill  adjusted.  I am  not 
sorry  that  this  annoys  you  and  makes  you  anxious 
to  return.  But,  how  is  it  that,  with  its  passion 
for  the  play,  Paris  is  no  better  off  than  we  ? I 
know  the  reason ; it  is  because  every  one  leaves 
the  good  show  for  the  bad  ; that  in  tragedy  they 
have  nothing  but  what  is  atrocious  ; that  plays  are 
written  by  thos  e who  know  neither  how  to  make 
comedies  for  .aughter  nor  tragedies  for  tears ; 
that  comedy,  instead  of  bringing  laughter,  brings 
tears ; that  nothing  is  in  its  proper  place ; that 
colours  even  have  only  abject  and  indecent 
names.  All  that  encourages  no  sort  of  talent, 
but  spoils  it.’ 

A frivolous  and  corrupt  court,  in  the  midst  of 
a society  which  its  evil  example  has  brought  to 
the  verge  of  a fatal  precipice,  that  is  the  idea 
Catherine  seems  to  hold,  at  this  time,  in  regard  to 
the  country  of  her  ‘ dear  master,’  who  himself  has 
given  colour  to  her  opinions,  in  denying  at  every 
opportunity  his  kinship  with  the  pitiable  ‘Vandals.’ 
Her  dominant  idea,  however,  is  a feeling  of  in- 
difference in  regard  to  men  and  things  there. 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


248 

For  a long  time,  up  to  the  very  verge  of  the 
revolutionary  crisis,  the  events  and  agitations,  ' 
this  far  country,  seem  to  her  without  any  gene 
importance  ; she  does  not  perceive  their  bear' 

* Nor,  whatever  may  have  been  said  to  the 
trary,  does  she  see  the  approach  of  the  terr  p; 

On  April  19,  1788,  she  writes  to  Grimm:  ‘I  do 
not  share  the  belief  of  those  who  imaginet'^'a..  A^e 


are  on  the  eve  of  a great  revolution. ’ ^^g, 

in  the  course  of  her  tour  through  the^ir-:;  i^of 
the  resolution  of  Louis  XVI.  to  q.<9  .e  an 
‘Assembly  of  Notables,’  she  sees  in  - ' nly  an 
imitation  of  her  own  legislative  comm’  i.  a.  She 
invites  Lafayette  to  visit  her  at  Ki-  To  open 
her  eyes  on  what  is  being  prer  i by  the 
Lafayettes,  it  needs  the  thunr  ap  of  the 


taking  of  the  Bastille.  Then  she  ns  to  under- 
stand what  is  in  the  air,  and  thv  .Lzette  de  St.- 
P^Ursbour£',  which,  had  been  sile  ■ <■.  the  Assembly 

of  the  States  and  the  Tennis-Cu^  . Oath,  breaks 
out  in  indignant  protestations  : ‘ ^ ' hand  shakes 

with  horror,’  etc.  The  rest  c ' ^ article  may 
be  imagined.  Soon  the  co*"  .ents  are  com- 
pared by  the  officious  jo'  to  ‘a  drunken 

mob,’  as  their  successors  ; .0  be  compared  to 

‘ cannibals.’ 

From  this  moment  C rine’s  ideas  underwent 
a rapid  change,  and  i'  .urious  to  follow,  in  her 
correspondence  and  confidential  conversation, 
the  progress  of  tV  evolution.  In  June  1790 
Grimm,  who  has  nv.-  yet  had  time  to  perceive  the 
change  which  is  coming  over  the  Empress’s  mind, 
asks  for  her  portrait  on  behalf  of  Bailly,  offering 
in  exchange  that  of  the  revolutionary  hero  of  the 
day.  Catherine  replies — 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


249 


‘ Listen  ; I cannot  accede  to  your  request,  and 
it  is  as  little  suitable  for  the  mayor  who  has  dis- 
monarchised  France  to  have  the  portrait  of  the 
most  aristocratic  Empress  in  Europe,  as  it  would 
be  for  her  to  send  it  to  the  dismonarchising 
mayor ; it  would  be  to  place  both  the  dis- 
monarchising mayor  and  the  aristocratissime 
Empress  in  contradiction  with  themselves  and 
their  fufcjfions,  past,  present,  and  future.’ 

i^no^BiWays  after — 

‘ I repCt  that  you  are  not  to  give  to  the  dis- 
monarch^ing  mayor  the  portrait  of  the  greatest 
aristocrat  in  Europe ; I would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  Jean  Marcel,  who  will  be  strung  up  a la 
lanterm  some  day  soon.’ 

Here  is  a complete  throwing  overboard  of 
republicanism.  It  is  not  so  with  regard  to  philo- 
sophy, to  which  the  Empress  still  clings.  She 
endeavours  to  find  out  how  far  it  is  responsible 
for  the  present  events — 


TO  GRIMM. 


* Jum  25,  1790. 

‘The  National  Assembly  should  burn  all  the  best 
French  authors,  and  all  that  has  carried  their  language 
over  Europe,  for  all  that  declares  against  the  abominable 
mess  that  they  have  made.  . . . As  for  the  people  and 
its  opinion,  that  is  of  no  great  consequence ! ’ 


It  is  this  last  phrase  especially  which  shows  the 
antagonism,  now  only  capable  of  increase,  be-  y 
tween  the  spirit  of  Catherine  and  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. It  is  the  part,  more  and  more  prominent, 
played  by  the  people  in  the  events  of  which  Paris 
has  become  the  theatre  that  shocks  and  offends 
the  sovereign.  There  was  a time  when,  in  this 
17 


250  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

respect  also,  she  had  other  ideas.  At  the  outset 
of  her  reign,  in  gathering  together  her  legislative 
commission,  she  did  nothing  less,  in  reality,  than 
summon  it  from  the  mass  of  her  subjects.  But  it 
is  then,  too,  that,  coming  for  the  first  time  in 
contact  with  the  popular  element,  she  began  little 
by  little  to  change  her  mind  in  regard  to  it. 
Perhaps  she  was  unwise  in  generalising  from  her 
impressions,  but  she  had  no  other  points  of 
comparison.  She  could  but  form  her  opinion  on 
what  was  before  her  eyes,  and  this  opinion 
became  a profound  contempt.  In  1787,  as  her 
secretary,  Chrapowicki,  points  out  to  her  the  enor- 
mous number  of  peasants  who  crowd  to  see  her 
and  pay  homage  to  her  in  a certain  country  town, 
she  replies  with  a shrug  of  the  shoulders  : ‘ They 
would  come  just  the  same  to  see  a bear.’  It  is 
the  same  spirit  to  which  she  gives  utterance  two 
years  after,  when,  referring  to  the  composition  of 
the  political  clubs  in  France,  she  says  : ‘ How  can 
shoemakers  have  anything  to  do  with  affairs  ? A 
shoemaker  only  knows  how  to  make  shoes.’ 

Soon  philosophy  in  turn  is  abandoned.  Cathe- 
• rine  still  speaks  with  respect  of  ‘good  French 
authors,’  but  she  makes  her  choice,  and,  Voltaire 
excepted,  she  throws  overboard  all  those  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Diderot,  d’Alembert,  and 
Montesquieu  himself,  are  sacrificed  at  one  blow — 

TO  GRIMM. 

• SeJ>^.  12,  1790. 

‘ I must  tell  you  the  truth,  the  tone  with  you  iiow  is 
that  of  mere  intemperance ; this  is  not  the  tone  to 
make  France  illustrious.  . . . What  will  the  French  do 
with  their  best  writers,  who  almost  all  lived  under  Louis 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


251 


XIV.?  All — Voltaire  himself — are  royalists;  they 
preach  order  and  tranquillity,  and  all  that  is  opposed 
to  the  system  of  this  hydra  with  twelve  hundred 
heads.’ 

The  National  Assembly  is  referred  to  more  and 
more  bitterly.  On  August  7th,  1 790,  Chrapowicki 
notes  in  his  journal : ‘ Said  in  presence  of  her 
Majesty,  speaking  of  France : “ It  is  a meta- 
physical country  ; every  member  of  the  assembly 
is  a king,  and  every  citizen  is  an  animal.”  Re- 
ceived with  approbation.’  At  the  same  time 
Catherine  writes  to  Grimm — 


27,  1790. 

‘ In  bed  I reflected  over  things,  and,  among  others,  I 
thought  that  one  reason  why  the  Mathieu  de  Mont- 
morencys,  the  Noailles,  etc.,  are  so  ill-taught  and  so 
base  in  spirit  that  they  are  among  the  first  promoters 
of  the  decree  abolishing  the  nobility  ...  is  that  the 
schools  of  the  Jesuits  have  been  abolished  among  you: 
whatever  you  may  say,  those  scamps  looked  well  after 
the  morals  and  tastes  of  the  young  people,  and  what- 
ever is  best  in  France  came  out  of  their  schools.^ 

^Jan.  13,  1791* 

‘One  never  knows  if  you  are  living  in  the  midst  of 
the  murders,  carnage,  and  uproar  of  the  den  of  thieves 
v/ho  have  seized  upon  the  government  of  France,  and 
who  will  soon  turn  it  into  Gaul  as  it  was  in  the  time  of 
Caesar.  But  Caesar  put  them  down  ! When  will  this 
Caesar  come.^  Oh,  come  he  will,  you  need  not  doubt.’ 

^May2Z,  1791. 

‘ The  best  of  possible  constitutions  is  worth  nothing 
when  it  makes  more  people  unhappy  than  happy,  when 
brave  and  honest  folk  have  to  drudge,  and  only  the 
rogues  are  in  clover,  because  their  pockets  are  filled, 
and  nobody  punishes  them.' 

Observe,  however,  with  what  moderation 


252  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Catherine  is  still  capable,  at  this  period,  of  dis- 
cussing one  of  the  revolutionary  principles  most 
repugnant  to  her.  Her  letter  of  June  30th,  1791, 
to  the  Prince  de  Ligne  may  be  given  in  evi- 
dence— 

‘ I think  that  the  Academies  ought  to  offer  a 
first  prize  for  the  question : What  do  honour 
and  worth,  synonyms  dear  to  heroic  ears,  become 
in  the  mind  of  an  active  citizen  under  a jealous 
and  suspicious  government,  which  proscribes  all 
distinction,  while  nature  itself  has  given  to  the 
intelligent  man  a pre-eminence  over  the  fool,  and 
courage  is  founded  on  the  sentiment  of  the  force 
of  the  body  or  of  the  head  ? Second  prize  for  the 
question  : Are  honour  and  worth  really  needful } 
And  if  so,  surely  one  should  not  restrain  the 
desire  of  emulation,  and  clog  it  with  an  insup- 
portable enemy,  equality.’ 

But  soon  she  is  carried  away  by  more  violent 
feelings — 

'Sept.  I,  1791. 

‘If  the  French  Revolution  takes  in  Europe,  there 
will  come  another  Gengis  or  Tamerlane  to  restore  it  to 
reason  : that  is  what  I prophesy,  and  be  sure  it  will 
come  true,  but  it  will  not  be  in  my  time,  nor,  I hope,  in 
that  of  M.  Alexandre.’ 

When  the  news  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVI. 
reaches  her,  Catherine,  as  we  have  mentioned,  is 
cut  to  the  heart ; she  betakes  herself  to  bed,  in  a 
sort  of  fever,  and  she  cries  to  her  confidant — 

'Feb.  I,  1793. 

‘The  very  name  of  France  should  be  exterminated  ! 
Equality  is  a monster.  It  would  fain  be  king ! ’ 

This  time  the  holocaust  is  complete.  Voltaire 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


2S3 


is  sacrificed  with  the  rest.  And  in  the  words 
and  writing  of  the  Empress  there  are  almost 
savage  calls  to  vengeance,  the  most  extravagant 
projects  of  repression — 


'Feb.  15,  1794. 

‘ I propose  that  all  the  Protestant  powers  should 
embrace  the  Greek  religion,  to  save  themselves  from 
the  irreligious,  immoral,  anarchical,  abominable,  and 
diabolical  plague,  enemy  of  God  and  of  thrones  ; it  is 
the  sole  apostolic  and  truly  Christian  religion — an  oak 
with  wide-spreading  roots.’ 

Thus,  after  Caesar,  she  calls  for  Tamerlane 
and  his  exterminating  sword;  after  the  Jesuits,  a 
long-bearded  pope,  who  will  bring  the  lost  peoples 
into  the  safe  fold  of  the  Orthodox  Church.  Is 
the  Caesar  for  whom  she  calls,  he  whom  France 
and  Europe  have  indeed  felt?  Yes  and  no. 
This  Caesar  she  did  not  at  first  perceive.  In 
is  evidently  dreaming  of  some  officer  of 
justice. _coming  from  without — some  Brunswick. 
It  is  only  later  on  that  her  point  of  view  changes, 
becomes  clearer,  and  then,  it  must  be  admitted, 
she  comes  very  near  the  truth — touches  it  almost. 
Catherine  sees  Napoleon  before  he  has  ap- 
peared ; she  points  to  him,  describes  his  charac- 
teristics— 

‘ If  France  is  to  coTne  out  of  this  alive,’  she 
writes,  February  1 1,  1794,  ‘she  will  be  more 
vigorous  than  ever ; she  will  be  meek  and 
obedient  as  a lamb  ; but  it  will  need  a man  both 
great  and  bold,  a man  above  his  contemporaries, 
and  perhaps  above  the  age.  Is  he  born?  Is  he 
not  ? Will  he  come  ? All  depends  on  that.  If 
he  is  found,  he  will  arrest  the  last  downfall,  and 


254  CA  THERINE  IT.  OF  RUSSIA 

that  will  be  arrested  whenever  he  is  found,  in 
France  or  elsewhere.’ 

The  men  of  the  Revolution  who  preceded 
Napoleon  all  shared  in  the  indignation  of  the 
Empress,  and  in  the  severity  of  her  judgments. 
Lafayette  is  now  called  ‘the  big  booby.’  Mira- 
beau  is  at  first  better  treated.  The  praises 
showered  on  his  tardy  loyalism  in  the  Gazette  de 
St.-P^tersbourg  show  that  the  relations  of  the 
tribune  with  the  Russian  Legation  at  Paris  were 
not  unknown,  nor  yet  the  services  that  were" 
looked  for  from  him.  But,  after  his  death, 
Catherine’s  personal  opinion  is  emphatically  ex- 
pressed in  her  letters  to  Grimm — 

‘ Mirabeau  was  the  colossus  or  monster  of  our 
time  ; in  any  other  he  would  have  been  avoided, 
detected,  imprisoned,  hanged,  or  broken  on  the 
wheel.’ 

And  three  days  afterwards — 

‘ I do  not  like  the  honours  paid  to  Mirabeau, 
and  I do  not  understand  the  why  or  wherefore, 
unless  it  be  to  encourage  wickedness  and  all  the 
vices.  Mirabeau  merits  the  esteem  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrha.’ 

She  retracts,  too,  her  admiration  for  Necker — 

‘ I agree  with  the  views  of  M.  F.  on  Malet  du 
Pan  and  on  that  bad  and  foolish  Necker : to  me 
they  are  not  merely  hatefDl,  but  mere  bores  and 
chatterboxes.’ 

She  is  not  more  tender  towards  the  Duke  of 
Orleans — 

‘ I hope  that  no  Bourbon  will  ever  again  bear 
the  name  of  Orleans,  after  the  horror  that  I feel 
towards  the  last  who  bore  it.’ 

As  for  the  Abbe  Sieges,  she  settles  his  account 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


255 


at  once  : ‘ I subscribe  to  the  hanging  of  the  Abbe 
Sieges.’ 

It  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  Revolutionaries 
give  her  back  her  own.  Volney  returns  the  gold 
medal  which  the  Empress  has  formerly  bestowed 
on  him.  Sylvain  Marechal,  in  his  Jtigement 
Dernier  des  Rois,  depicts  the  Empress  in  gro- 
tesque hand-to-hand  conflict  with  the  Pope,  who 
throws  his  tiara  at  her  head,  after  which  she  is 
swallowed  up  with  ail  her  accomplices  by  a 
volcano  that  opens  under  her  feet.  The  Moni- 
teur  is  not  always  amiable  towards  her. 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  noted  that,  for  a long 
time,  Catherine,  while  severely  condemning  the 
revolutionary  movement,  does  not,  in  Russia  or 
elsewhere,  set  on  foot  against  it  any  act  of  direct 
repression.  She  remains  a passive,  and  in  some 
sort  disinterested,  spectator  of  passing  events. 
Her  whole  attitude  seems  to  .say  that  all  these 
things  have  no  concern  for  her ; that,  whatever 
may  happen,  she  has  nothing  to  fear  for  herself 
or  for  the  empire.  At  bottom,  she  is  probably 
convinced  of  it  to  the  last.  Only  it  happens  that 
the  combinations,  or  we  might  better  say  the 
improvisations,  of  her  policy  come  to  impose 
upon  her  convictions.  The  precise  epoch  when 
she  decides  to  abandon  her  inaction  sufficiently 
indicates  her  reasons  for  doing  so : it  is  the 
moment  when,  having  settled  affairs  with  Turkey 
and  Sweden,  she  judges  the  hour  come  to  inter- 
fere in  Poland,  and  to  put  her  hand  to  the 
master- work  of  her  reign.  The  French  Revolu- 
tion then  appears  in  her  eyes  as  one  of  those 
propitious  ‘conjunctions ’ which,  with  conjectures 
and  circumstances,  make  up,  for  her,  the  whole 


CATHERINE  II.  CF  RUSSIA 


256 

of  politics.  A dialogue  with  her  secretary 
Chrapowicki,  December  14,  1791,  gives  clear 
utterance  to  her  view  in  this  respect — 

^ ‘ I am  doing  all  I can  to  get  the  courts  of 
'Berlin  and  Vienna  to  concern  themselves  with 
French  affairs.’ 

‘ They  are  not  very  active.’ 

‘ No.  The  court  of  Berlin  goes  forward,  but 
that  of  Vienna  remains  behind.  They  do  not 
see  my  point.  Am  I wrong  ? There  are 
reasons  that  one  cannot  say  openly.  I wish 
them  to  become  concerned  in  the  French  affairs 
in  order  to  leave  me  elbow-room.  I have  many 
undertakings  to  be  achieved.  I would  have 
them  occupied  so  that  they  may  leave  my  way 
clear.’ 

And  immediately  Catherine  sets  the  tocsin 
ringing.  Up  to  the  present  she  has  been  content 
to  publish  in  Paris,  through  her  minister  Simo- 
line  (in  August  1 790)  a ukase  commanding  all 
her  subjects  to  quit  France,  in  order  that  more 
of  them  should  not  think  to  imitate  the  example 
of  the  young  Count  Alexander  Strogonof,  who, 
with  his  tutor,  had  joined  a revolutionary  club. 
But  it  had  not  occurred  to  her  to  interdict  in  her 
empire  the  incendiary  publications  coming  from 
the  banks  of  the  Seine.  Russia  remained  the  sole 
country  in  Europe  open  to  the  circulation  of  tlie 
papers  printed  at  Paris.  One  number  of  the  Moni- 
teur  had  been  confiscated,  because  it  enlarged 
somewhat  too  explicitly  on  the  score  of  the  Grand 
Duke  and  different  personages  of  the  court. 
From  that  day  Catherine  examined  every  number 
before  authorising  the  distribution.  She  soon 
came  across  one  where  she  herself,  in  her  turn, 


WEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


257 


was  very  hardly  treated  : she  was  described  as 
‘the  Messalina  of  the  North.’  ‘That  concerns 
no  one  but  myself,’  she  said  proudly,  and  ordered 
its  distribution.  She  tolerated  the  presence  in 
St.  Petersburg  of  the  brother  of  Marat,  who, 
while  condemning  the  sanguinary  furies  of  the 
other,  did  not  conceal  his  republican  views. 
Tutor  in  the  house  of  Count  Salty kof,  he  often 
comes  to  court  with  his  pupil.  It  is  only  in  1792 
that  he  changes  his  name,  and  takes  that  of 
Boudri.  Then,  in  truth,  all  around  him  changes  : 
the  Empress  embarl:s  in  the  anti-revolutionary 
campaign,  at  first  without  much  enthusiasm, 
purely  as  a political  manoeuvre,  but  more  and 
more  sincerely,  and  more  and  more  passionately 
too,  entering  little  by  little  into  the  part  she  has 
wished  to  play,  and  adopting  as  her  own  those 
ideas,  sentiments,  and  instincts.  Not  content 
with  attacking  the  revolutionary  spirit  in  France 
J and  among  the  French,  she  pursues  it  in  Russia, 
1 among  the  Russians  themselves,  which  is  really 
\_doing  it  more  honour  than  it  deserves.';  In  regard 
to  France  she  draws  up,  in  1792,  a memorandum 
on  the  means  of  restoring  the  monarchy.  It 
must  be  said  that  she  does  not  manifest  much 
common-sense  in  the  project.  She  imagines 
that  a force  of  ten  thousand  men,  marching 
from  end  to  end  of  the  country,  would  suffice 
to  the  task.  The  cost  would  only  be  ^500,000, 
which  could  be  borrowed  at  Genoa.  France, 
once  handed  back  to  its  king,  would  return  the 
amount.  In  regard  to  the  Frenchmen  imbued 
with  the  revolutionary  spirit,  w'ho  might  be  found 
in  her  dominions,  she  concocts  the  famous  ukase 
of  February  3,  1793,  which  constrains  them 


as8  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

under  threat  of  immediate  expulsion,  to  take  an 
oath,  of  which  the  terms  could  not  have  been 
better  imagined  by  a tribunal  of  inquisitors. 
Nor  does  she  treat  her  subjects  with  more  in- 
dulgence. To  ward  them  off  from  the  contagion 
of  Jacobinism,  she  has  recourse  to  means  which 
she  could  not  have  sufficiently  scorned  at  the 
commencement  of  her  reign.  Learning  the  choice 
that  had  been  made  of  Prozorofski  for  the  post 
of  Governor  of  Moscow,  Patiomkine  writes  to 
his  imperial  friend — 

‘You  have  taken  out  of  your  arsenal  the  most 
ancient  piece  of  artillery,  which  will  certainly 
shoot  in  the  direction  in  which  you  set  it,  for 
it  has  no  motion  of  its  own ; but  beware  lest  it 
covers  with  blood  for  ever  the  name  of  your 
Majesty.’ 

Prozorofski  and  his  collaborators  of  Moscow 
and  St.  Petersburg,  Arharof,  Chechkofski,  and 
Pestel,  seemed,  in  the  vigorous  phrase  of  a 
Russian  writer,  ‘ to  have  risen  into  the  light  of 
day  out  of  the  torture-chambers  of  the  Preo- 
brajenski  Prikaz,  already  lost  in  the  night  of 
oblivion.’  The  trial  of  the  Muscovite  publicist, 
Novikof,  condemned  to  fifteen  years’  imprison- 
ment for  carrying  on  certain  publications  to 
which  the  Empress  herself  had  formerly  con- 
tributed, inaugurates  a regime  which  justifies 
only  too  well  the  apprehensions  of  Patiom- 
kine. Catherine  bears  a grudge  even  against 
the  high  French  cravats,  covering  the  chin, 
which  the  dandies  of  St.  Petersburg,  Prince 
Borys  Galitzine  at  their  head,  persist  in  wearing. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  present  the  notions 
inspired  in  Catherine  by  the  great  political  and 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES  259 

social  upheaval  of  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  These  notions,  it  is  evident,  were 
narrow.  Catherine  could  not  see  that,  under  all 
its  deplorable  errors,  its  culpable  mistakes,  the 
movement  that  she  sought  to  repress  contained 
something  noble,  lofty,  and  generous. Perhaps 
mere  intelligence  could  not  suffice  for  the  com- 
prehension of  these  things.  What  was  wanted 
was  a certain  personal  elevation  of  sentiment, 
which  Catherine  never  possessed.  In  trying 
to  fight  with  the  Revolution,  she  seized  her 
chance  of  stifling  the  last  vestiges  of  national 
independence  on  the, banks  of  the  Vistula:  that 
was  a matter  of  policy,  and  we  may  waive  our 
judgment  respecting  it.  But,  the  fight  once 
at  end  in  Poland,  she  was  neither  touched  as  a 
woman,  nor  impressed  as  a sovereign,  by  what 
made  the  glory  of  the  expiring  republic  and  its 
rehabilitation  before  posterity,  by  the  last  resist- 
ance of  the  vanquished,  by  the  hero  who  personi- 
fied all  its  useless  effort  and  its  tragic  destiny. 
Having  summoned  to  St.  Petersburg  as  a com- 
mon malefactor  the  vanquished  soldier  whom 
Michelet  named  ‘the  last  Knight  of  the  West 
and  the  first  Citizen  of  the  East,’  whom  Napoleon 
afterwards,  at  the  height  of  his  power,  would 
have  called  to  his  aid,  and  who,  in  his  Swiss 
shelter,  was  not  to  be  dazzled  by  Napoleon, 
Catherine  was  not  even  curious  to  see  him. 
She  was  content  to  abuse  him.  ‘ Kostiouchko  ’ — 
she  did  not  even  know  how  to  spell  his  name — 

‘ has  been  brought  here ; he  is  seen  to  be  in 
every  way  a mere  fool,  quite  beneath  contempt. 
That  is  how  shq  judges  the  man.  ‘ Ma  pauvre 
bete  de  Kostiouchka,’  we  read  in  another  letter. 


26o 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


That  is  all  the  pity  she  can  spare  to  the  soldier 
who  had  fallen  on  the  field  of  Macieiowice,  the 
soldier  in  whose  wounds  the  very  soul  of  a great 
and  noble  people  seemed  to  pass  in  one  last  cry 
of  agony. 

Paul  I.,  on  reaching  the  throne,  is  said  to  have 
visited  the  ex-dictator  in  his  prison,  and,  bending 
low  before  him,  desired  his  pardon  for  his  mother. 
Perhaps  it  is  only  a legend,  and  if  so,  so  much 
the  worse  for  the  son  of  Catherine.  At  all  events 
he  set  the  prisoner  free.  Catherine  had  never 
thought  of  doing  it 

We  once  heard  a German,  who  to-day  occupies 
a high  position  at  Vienna,  declare  that,  being 
cosmopolitan  in  his  tastes,  he  liked  every  nation- 
ality equally,  except  one,  and  that  his  own  ; for, 
said  he,  along  with  many  good  qualities,  it  had 
one  defect  which  he  disliked  above  all  others,  it 
did  not  know  how  to  be  generous. 

Tn  one  sense,  and  from  this  point  of  view,  just 
or  not,  Catherine  remained  German.  She  knew 
how  to  give,  sometimes  even  how  to  pardon,  but 
she  was  utterly  inaccessible  to  certain  sentiments 
that  awaken  naturally  in  all  true  hearts  at  the 
sight  of  weakness,  suffering,  and  misfortune. 
Her  ideas,  as  we  know  them,  did  not  allow  her 
to  appreciate  a certain  type  of  simple  grandeur. 
Her  own  simplicity  was  all  made  of  show  and 
convention.  She  was  always  playing  a part 
when  she  showed  herself  under  this  aspect.  She 
was  willing  to  come  down  from  Olympus,  and 
she  even  took  pleasure  in  it,  but  Olympus  and 
all  its  train  must  be  not  far  off.  This  is  why,  in 
1782,  she  refused  the  honour  of  receiving 
Franklin.  ‘ I do  not  care  for  him,’  she  said. 


IDEAS  AND  PRINCIPLES 


261 


She  did  not  understand  him.  In  1795  she  did 
not  understand  Kosciuszko. 

Is  it  true  that  she  ever  echoed  the  one  among 
all  the  kings  her  contemporaries  whom  she  pro- 
fessed the  most  to  scorn,  Louis  XV.,  by  repeating 
in  her  way  the  famous  saying  ‘After  me  the 
deluge  ’ ? ‘ Poslie  mienia  hot  trava  nie  rosti 

(After  me  the  grass  may  cease  to  grow)  ’ she  is 
said  to  have  said  at  the  end  of  her  life.  It 
may  well  be.  But  to  arrive  at  that  point,  she 
had  need  to  abjure  all  that  made  the  true 
glory  of  her  reign,  all  to  which  she  owes  to- 
day that  immortality  of  which  she  had  the 
sublime  thirst. 


BOOK  II 

THE  SOVEREIGN 
CHAPTER  I 

THE  ART  OF  RULING 

I 

' I LOVE  the  fallow  land,’  wrote  Catherine.  ‘ I 
have  said  it  a thousand  times,  I am  good  for 
nothing  out  of  Russia.’  She  thus  proved  the 
extreme  lucidity  of  mind  which  permitted  her,  at 
least  occasionally,  to  achieve  this  ^our  de  force — 
a just  appreciation  of  her  own  merits.  Prince 
Henry  of  Prussia,  sent  to  St.  Petersburg,  as  an 
act  of  gratitude,  by  his  brother,  and  there  study- 
ing the  sovereign  with  a German’s  resolution  to 
get  to  the  bottom  of  things,  said  one  day  to  the 
Comte  de  Segur — 

‘ She  (Catherine)  is  made  to  shine,  she  is 
immortalised  during  her  lifetime ; otherwise,  she 
would  no  doubt  shine  much  less ; but  in  her 
country  she  is  more  intelligent  than  all  those 
about  her.  It  is  easy  to  be  great  on  such  a 
throne.’ 

Catherine  did  not  fail  to  recognise  one  of  the 
elements,  and  perhaps  the  most  essential,  of  all 
her  successes — luck.  ‘ I have  had  nothing  but 
good  luck,’  she  said  frankly  enough.  How 
262 


THE  ART  OF  RULING  263 

indeed  could  she  fail  to  see  in  the  path  of  her 
life  this  indispensable  factor  of  all  prosperity  ? 
In  1770  she  copied  with  her  own  hand  a note 
from  her  improvised  admiral,  the  commandant-in- 
chief of  her  naval  forces  in  the  Levant,  Alexis 
Orlof,  who,  though  he  had  never  till  then  seen  a 
ship  or  a sailor,  knew  enough  at  the  end  of  a 
week  to  see  that  those  with  whom  he  had  been 
told  to  conquer  ‘were  not  worth  a pinch  of  salt.’ 
‘ My  hair  stands  on  end  as  I think  of  these 
things,’  wrote  Orlof.  ‘ If  we  had  to  do  with  any 
but  Turks,  there  would  soon  be  an  end  of  the 
fleet’  It  is  this  fleet  and  its  admiral  that  won 
the  victory  of  Tchesme,  shattering  to  atoms  one 
of  the  finest  fleets  that  Turkey  had  ever  sent  to 
sea.  And  in  1781  Catherine  had  already  sent 
to  Grimm  the  following  rdsum^  of  the  history  of 
her  reign,  set  forth  by  her  new  secretary  and 
factotum,  Besborodko,  in  the  fantastic  form  of 
an  inventory : — 

Governments  instituted  according  to  the  new 


form, 29 

Towns  built, 144 

Treaties  made, . ......  30 

Victories  won, . 78 

Notable  edicts,  decreeing  laws,  ...  88 

Edicts  on  behalf  of  the  people,  . . . 123 

Total  . 492 


Four  hundred  and  ninety-two  active  measures! 
This  astonishing  piece  of  book-keeping,  which 
betrays  so  naively  all  that  there  was  of  romantic, 
extravagant,  childish,  and  very  feminine,  in  the 
extraordinary  genius  that  swayed  Russia,  and 
in  some  sort  Europe,  during  thirty-four  years, 


264  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

will  no  doubt  make  the  reader  smile.  It  corre- 
sponds, however,  truly  enough,  to  a sum-total 
of  great  things  accomplished  under  her  direct 
inspiration. 

And  all  that,  was  it  not  really  due  to  her  good 
luck?  No  indeed!  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  is 
too  severe,  Catherine  too  modest,  and  we  have 
proved  it  already  in  speaking  of  the  character  of 
the  great  sovereign.  With  such  a character  one 
generally  puts  something  more  than  chance  and 
success  in  the  balance  of  human  destinies,  over 
which  one  is  called  to  preside.  Catherine  put 
there,  to  begin  with,  remarkable  qualities  of 
tenue.  On  July  3,  1764,  the  envoy  of  Frederick, 
Comte  de  Solms,  wrote  to  his  master — 

‘ On  the  part  of  the  nation  discontent  and 
commotion,  and  much  courage  and  firmness,  at 
least  in  appearance,  on  the  part  of  the  Empress. 
She  left  here  (Livonia)  with  an  air  of  the  greatest 
serenity  and  the  most  composed  countenance, 
though,  only  two  days  before,  there  had  been  a 
mutiny  in  the  army.’ 

— In  another  circumstance,  the  Prince  de  Ligne 
has  noted — 

‘ I was  the  only  one  to  see  that  the  last  declara- 
tion on  part  of  Turkey  gave  her  only  a quarter 
of  an  hour’s  reflection  on  the  instability  of  human 
things,  and  the  uncertainty  of  success  and  glory. 
She  left  the  room  with  the  same  air  of  serenity 
that  she  had  before  her  courier  had  gone.’ 

Imposing  on  all  the  world,  her  friends  as  well 
as  her  enemies,  by  this  attitude,  Catherine  can 
never  be  imposed  upon  by  man  or  thing,  and  is 
never  put  out  of  countenance.  In  1788,  at  the 
moment  when  the  Swedish  war  broke  out,  there 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


265 

was  a terrible  lack  of'  men,  both  in  the  army  and 
in  the  government,  but  especially  in  the  army. 
The  Count  of  Anhalt  presents  himself,  backed 
by  his  European  reputation  as  a soldier,  and 
offers  his  services.  He  is  received  with  open  arms. 
But  he  demands  the  rank  of  general-in-chief,  and 
the  supreme  command.  Catherine  refuses.  The 
German  condottiere,  surprised  and  indignant,  de- 
clares that  he  will  go  and  plant  cabbages.  ‘ Look 
after  them  well,’  replies  the  Empress  calmly. 

To  increase  the  prestige  that  she  already  has, 
she  does  not  disdain,  from  time  to  time,  to  have 
recourse  to  certain  artifices,  to  certain  effects  of 
upose  and  arrangement.  / The  Comte  de  Segur, 
on  presenting  his  credentials,  perceives  ‘some- 
thing theatrical  ’ in  the  behaviour  of  the  Empress  ; 
but  this  ‘ something  ’ has  such  an  effect  upon  the 
new-comer  that  he  forgets  the  formal  speech 
he  has  prepared  beforehand,  and  is  obliged 
to  improvise  another.  One  of  his  predecessors, 
yet  more  overcome,  was  unable,  if  we  may 
believe  Catherine,  to  get  beyond  the  words, 
‘ The  King  my  master,’  which  he  repeated  three 
times  in  succession.  At  the  third  repetition 
Catherine  put  an  end  to  his  misery  by  saying 
that  she  well  knew  the  good-will  of  his  master 
towards  her.  But  she  looked  upon  him,  from 
that  moment,  as  a fool,  though  he  had  the 
reputation  in  Paris  of  being  a man  of  ready  wit. 
"^e  was  indulgent  only  to  her  servants.  It 
should  be  said  that  she  had  the  right  to  be 
exigent  in  regard  to  those  who  had  to  speak 

before her, J for,  as  the  Prince  de  Ligne  has 

observed,  she  had  ‘ the  art  of  listening,’  ‘ Such 
was  her  presence  of  mind,’  he  tells  us,  ‘that 
18 


266  CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

she  seemed  to  be  listening,  even  when  she  was 
thinking  of  something  else.’  The  Prince  de 
Ligne  adds  that  nevertheless  his  own  Empress, 
Maria  Theresa,  had  ‘ more  charm  and  magic,’ 
Catherine  manifests  mor«.. authority.  And  she 
is  careful  to  keep  this  side  of  her  sovereign 
prestige  intact.  One  day,  at  an  official  dinner, 
having  to  express  some  discontent  with  the 
envoy  of  a foreign  power,  she  makes  one  of  those 
scenes  of  which  Napoleon,  later  on,  was  so  fond. 
In  the  midst  of  her  tirade  she  hears  her  secre- 
tary, Chrapowicki,  observing  in  an  undertone 
how  much  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  ma- 
touchka  loses  her  temper  in  this  way.  She 
stops  short,  changes  the  conversation,  behaves 
most  amiably  to  the  end  of  dinner  ; but  on 
rising  from  table  she  goes  straight  to  the  in- 
terrupter : ‘ How  dare  you  criticise  in  public  what 
I say ! ’ Hei  voice  trembles  with  wrath,  and 
the  cup  of  coffee  that  she  holds  in  her  hand  is 
in  danger  of  falling  to  the  ground.  She  puts 
down  the  cup  without  emptying  it,  and  dismisses 
the  unfortunate  secretary.  He  thinks  himself 
lost,  and  goes  home  expecting,  at  the  very  least, 
an  order  to  set  out  for  Siberia.  A messenger 
comes  to  summon  him  before  her  Majesty. 
Catherine  is  still  much  excited,  and  overwhelms 
him  with  reproaches.  He  falls  on  his  knees. 
‘ Come,’  says  the  Empress,  presenting  him  with  a 
snuff-box  set  with  diamonds,  ‘ keep  this,  and  when 
you  have  any  observations  to  make  in  public  on 
what  I say  or  do,  hold  your  tongue  and  take  a pinch 
of  snuff.  The  reminder  may  be  of  use  to  me.’ 

With  such  command  over  herself,  it  is  certain 
that  she  must  exercise  great  command  over 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


267 


Others/  It  is  indeed  enormous,  and  all  the  traits 
of  her  character,  of  her  temperament,  and  of  her 
mind,  serve  to  strengthen  it.  Her  attitude 
impresses  and  fascinates,  her  energy,  her  fire, 
her  youthful  ‘go,’  her  confidence,  her  audacity, 
her  verve,  her  way  of  presenting  things  to  others 
as  they  present  themselves  to  her,  that  is  to  say, 
on  the  brightest  side,  her  scorn  of  danger  and 
difficulty,  made  up  of  a good  half  of  ignorance 
and  a good  third  of  adventurous  infatuation,  her 
day-dreams,  that  sort  of  gorgeous  hallucination 
in  which  she  lives,  and  through  which  the  sense 
of  real  things  comes  to  her ; all  that  aids  her  in 
driving  forward  good  and  bad,  wise  and  foolish 
alike,  driving  them  forward  as  a horseman  does 
his  horse,  now  carressed  and  now  flogged, 
spurred,  shaken,  and  in  some  sort  borne  along  by 
the  effort  of  a will  which  increases  tenfold  the 
play  of  the  muscles.^  Read  the  correspondence 
of  the  sovereign  with  her  generals  in  the  first 
Turkish  war,  Galitzine  and  Roumiantsof.  Galit- 
zine  is  utterly  incompetent,  Roumiantsof  is  an 
accomplished  soldier : she  scarcely  notices  the 
difference.  They  must  both  march ; they  must 
both  beat  the  Turks  ; it  is  impossible  that  they 
should  not  do  that.  The  Turks,  what  are  they  } 
A herd,  not  an  army.  And  then,  ‘Europe  is  ob- 
serving us.’  One  seems  to  hear  Napoleon  be- 
side the  Pyramids.  She  thanks  Roumiantsof  for 
a Turkish  poignard  that  he  has  sent  her,  but  the 
capture  of  two  ‘ hospodars  ’ would  please  her 
better.  Nor  is  that  enough  : ‘ I beg  you  to  be 
good  enough  to  send  me  the  Vizier  himself,  and, 
if  God  wills,  his  Highness  the  Sultan  himself.’ 
She  will  do  all  to  render  the  victory  easy : ‘ She 


268  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

is  setting  fire  to  the  Turkish  empire  at  all  four 
corners,’  She  sends  word  to  her  Minister  of 
War,  so  that  he  may  hold  himself  in  readiness: 

‘ Monsieur,  monsieur,  I want  plenty  of  cannons. 
. . . What  am  I to  do  if  the  cannons  are  dear  ? ’ 
One  would  take  her  for  a fine  lady  ordering  a 
further  supply  of  dresses  from  a good  maker. 
She  adds:  ‘I  have  now -army  at  Cuban,  an 
army  acting  against  the  Turks,  an  army  against 
the  brainless  Poles ; I am  about  to  collar  the 
Swedes,'^^  T have  three  more  soumatohi 
(brawls)  in  petto,  that  I dare  not  avow.  Send 
me,  if  you  can  without  attracting  notice,  a map 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Archipelago,  and 
then  pray  God  : God  will  arrange  all.’ 

But  now,  in  September  1771,  one  of  the  lieu- 
tenants of  Roumiantsof,  General  Essen,  is  de- 
feated under  the  walls  of  Giourgi.  It  is  nothing. 
‘ Where  there  has  been  water,  there  is  water 
still,’  says  the  Russian  proverb.  The  Russian 
proverb  is  right.  ‘ God  favours  us,  but  some- 
times he  punishes  us  in  order  that  we  may  not 
become  too  proud.’  We  must  go  ahead,  and  all 
will  be  well.  Roumiantsof  goes  ahead,  he  leaves 
the  right  bank  of  the  Danube.  Victory!  cries 
Catherine.  Quick,  a pen,  to  send  the  good  news 
to  Voltaire,  that  the  good  news  may  spread 
through  all  Europe  I Alas  I in  obeying  his  sove- 
reign, Roumiantsof  has  attempted  too  much.  He 
is  obliged  to  beat  a retreat.  He  excuses  himself 
on  account  of  the  state  of  the  army.  He  ima- 
gines that  he  has  enemies  about  the  Empress 
who  have  purposely  left  him  w'ithout  enough  food 
and  ammunition.  ‘ He  does  not  know  what  he  is 
saying ! ’ Catherine  has  never  heard  that  he  had 


THE  ART  OF  RULING  269 

enemies  capable  of  doing  him  a mischief  with 
her.  That  would  be  impossible.  ‘She  has  no 
people  about  her  to  whisper  in  her  ear.  . . . She 
will  have  none  of  such  folk.  . . . She  judges 
those  capable  of  doing  well  by  what  they 
do.’  No  doubt  Roumiantsofs  army  is  weak. 
Especially  (a  little  cut  in  passing)  as  it  must  have 
suffered  in  the  marches  and  counter-marches 
from  one  bank  of  the  Danube  to  the  other.  But 
the  Empress  cannot  forget  the  inscription  en- 
graved on  the  obelisk  commemorating  the  vic- 
tory won  by  Roumiantsof  at  Kagoul : it  declares 
that  he  had  only  1 7,000  men  under  his  command. 
With  his  skill  and  energy  he  can  renew  this  feat 
of  arms  ; provided  always  that  he  does  not  allow 
himself  to  be  discouraged.  Forward!  Forward! 

II 

This  correspondence  discovers  yet  another' 
superiority  in  Catherine  i lier  skill  in  the  manage- 
mentofjpen.  In  that  ^e  is  simply  marvellous. 
She  employs  all  the  resources  of  a trained  diplo- 
matist, of  a subtle  psychologist,  and  of  a woman 
who  knows  the  art  of  fascination ; she  employs 
them  together  or  apart,  she  handles  them  with 
unequalled  maestria.  If  it  is  true  that  she  some- 
times takes  her  lovers  for  generals  and  statesmen, 
it  is  no  less  true  that  she  treats  on  occasion  her 
generals  and  statesmen  as  lovers.  When  the 
sovereign  can  do  nothing,  the  Circe  intervenes. 
If  it  avails  nothing  to  command,  to  threaten,  or  to 
punish,  she  becomes  coaxing  and  wheedling.  To- 
wards the  soldiers  that  she  sends  to  death,  bidding 
them  c ’ ■ win  for  her  victory,  she  has  delicate 


270  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

attentions,  flattering  forethought,  adorable  little 
way^  After  the  battle  of  Kinburn  (October 
having  to  send  quantities  of  ribbon  to  the 
heroes  of  the  day,  she  arranges  them  with  her 
own  hands,  in  a basket  of  flowers,  which  she 
sends  to  Patiomkine.  In  September  1789  she 
sends  to  Prince  von  Nassau- Siegen,  the  new 
commander  of  the  fleet,  two  warm  dressing-gowns, 
‘like  those  I sent  last  year  to  Marshal  Prince 
Patiomkine  before  Otchakof,  and  which  were  of 
great  service  to  him,  as  he  himself  assured  me.’ 
She  flatters  the  literary  ambitions  of  the  Comte 
de  Segur  in  absolutely  insisting  on  putting  his 
Coriolanus  on  the  stage,  and,  in  the  course  of  the 
performance,  she  seizes  both  his  hands  to  make 
him  applaud  himself.  She  even  gives  out  that  she 
knows  the  piece  by  heart,  reciting  aloud  a dozen 
lines,  where,  it  is  true,  she  has  caught  a political 
allusion  that  she  wishes  to  emphasise. 

Should  fortune  smile  upon  the  efforts  she  has 
thus  provoked  and  stimulated,  she  is  profusely 
grateful ; honours,  pensions,  gifts  of  money,  of 
peasants,  of  land,  rain  upon  the  artisans  of  her 
glory.  But  she  does  not  abandon  those  who  have 
had  the  misfortune  to  be  unlucky.  In  June 
1790  Prince  von  Nassau-Siegen  is  ingloriously 
defeated.  She  immediately  writes  to  him — 

‘ I hope  you  know  me  well  enough  to  be  sure 
that  the  gossip  of  the  town,  which  has  apparently 
reached  you,  will  have  no  effect  upon  me.  I know 
perfectly  your  zeal ; I do  it  justice ; I most  sin- 
cerely share  your  mortification ; I am  distressed 
to  hear  that  it  has  even  affected  your  health.  . . . 
Mon  Dieu,  who  is  there,  then,  that  has  not  had 
great  reverses  in  his  life.^  Have  not  the  greatest 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


271 


captains  had  their  unlucky  days.  The  late  King 
of  Prussia  was  really  only  great  after  a great 
reverse.  . . . Remember,  Prince,  your  successes  in 
the  South  and  North,  rise  above  these  untoward 
events,  and  go  forward  against  the  enemy,  instead 
of  asking  me  to  appoint  another  commander  for 
the  fleet.  I cannot  do  so  now  without  giving 
occasion  to  your  enemies.  1 lay  too  great  store 
by  the  services  you  have  rendered  me  not  to 
support  you,  especially  at  a time  when  you  are 
suffering,  as  you  tell  me,  in  body  and  mind.’ 

She  supports  him,  in  fact,  against  all.  As,  in 
his  endeavour  to  retire  from  the  position,  he 
appeals  to  the  unfavourable  state  of  affairs,  she 
replies  that  it  will  be  cruel  of  him  towards  her  if 
he  cannot  remedy  them.  ‘ I have  always  liked  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  those  who  looked 
after  mine.’  And,  as  the  clamour  of  court  and 
town  still  continue  against  the  defeated  general, 
she  writes  to  him  again — 

‘You  acted  upon  a plan  approved  by  me  and 
upon  my  orders,  and,  coming  from  the  supreme 
authority,  they  could  not  have  been  submitted  to 
any  further  opinion,  since,  as  long  as  I live,  I 
shall  never  allow  what  I have  ordered  and 
approved  of  in  regard  to  service  to  be  called 
in  question  by  a living  soul ; nor  does  any  one 
here  attempt  to  do  so.  You  are  right,  and  you 
must  be  right,  since  I say  that  you  are  right. 
That  is  an  “ aristocratic  ” reason,  no  doubt ; but 
it  can  be  no  otherwise  without  turning  every- 
thing upside  down.’ 

And  it  is  always  thus.  In  1794  General 
Ige’lstrbm,  having  been  surprised  at  Warsaw  by  a 
popular  outbreak,  is  suspended  from  office ; but. 


272  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

one  day,  as  those  about  the  Empress  are  intent 
upon  running  him  down,  she  raises  her  voice : 
‘ Silence,  gentlemen  ; do  not  forget  that  he  served 
me  for  thirty  years,  and  that  I owe  to  him  the 
peace  with  Sweden.’ 

A fragment  of  conversation  with  Count  Nicolas 
Roumiantsof,  the  son  of  the  hero  of  the  first 
Turkish  war,  which  is  reported  to  us  by  Gretch, 
shows,  on  the  other  hand,  the  multiplicity  of 
means  which  she  has  at  her  command,  and  which 
she  uses  to  obtain  the  aid  of  those  whose  devotion 
is  likely  to  be  useful  to  her.  She  asks  the  Count 
if  he  thinks  it  easy  to  govern  men.  ‘ I think  there 
is  nothing  more  difficult,’  replies  Roumiantsof. 
‘ Come  now,  you  have  only  to  observe  three 
principles  : the  first  is  to  act  so  that  people  .fancy 
they  are  doing  of  their  own  j.ccord-whaL^ujTjake 
them  do.’  ‘That  is  quite  enough,’  interrupts 
^umiantsof.  Admiral  Tchitchagof  relates  that 
his  brother,  who  was  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber, 
had  one  day  the  misfortune  to  be  late  in  arriving. 
The  Empress  observed  it,  and  did  not  fail  to  com- 
ment on  this  negligence,  but  it  was  in  the  form 
of  eulogies  heaped  on  the  father  of  Tchitchagof, 
who,  for  fifty  years,  never  once  failed  to  be  at  his 
post.  Those  who  were  present  imagined  that  the 
young  man  was  receiving  the  most  extraordinary 
signs  of  imperial  favour,  until  he  confessed  to 
them  afterwards  that  he  had  never  been  so 
miserable  and  confused.  ‘ I make  it  a point  to 
praise  aloud,  and  to  complain  quietly,’  said 
Catherine. 

And  is  it  not  easy  to  imagine  the  effect  that  a 
word  from  her  lips,  a gesture  of  her  hand,  the 
slightest  mark  of  satisfaction  or  of  dissatisfaction, 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


273 


coming  from  her,  would  have  over  the  simple  and 
impressionable  people  with  whom  she  was  for  the 
most  part  brought  in  contact  ? T chitchagof  relates 
that  a General  Vorontsof,  Commandant  of  the  Post 
of  Revel,  whom  he  had  known  well,  was  struck 
by  an  attack  of  apoplexy,  of  which  he  died,  at  the 
mere  idea  of  having  incurred  the  sovereign’s 
displeasure.  A non-commissioned  officer  named 
Stepan  Chirai,  sent  to  the  Empress  by  Souvarof 
with  the  news  of  the  taking  of  a fortress,  returned 
with  the  Cross  of  St.  Vladimir  of  the  fourth  class, 
which  the  Empress  herself  had  pinned  on  his 
chest.  Thirty  years  later  the  Emperor  Nicholas, 
on  the  day  of  his  coronation,  thought  to  advance 
him  a class.  He  returned  the  new  cross:  he  could 
not  make  up  his  mind  to  give  up  the  one  that 
he  had  received  from  the  hands  of  the  inatoicchka ! 


Ill 

Ccatherine’s  art  of  ruling  was  not,  however, 
without  its  shortcomings,  some  of  which  were 
due  to  the  mere  fact  of  her  sex,  whose  depen- 
dences and  weaknesses  she  was  powerless  to 
overcome^  ‘Ah!’  she  cried  one  day,  ‘ if  heaven 
had  only  granted  me  breeches  instead  of  petti- 
coats, I could  do  anything.  It  is  with  eyes  and 
arms  that  one  rules,  and  a woman  has  only  ears.’ 
The  petticoats  were  not  solely  responsible  for  her 
difficulties.  £'We  have  already  referred  to  a defect 
AVhich  bore " heavily  upon  the  conduct  of  affairs  \ 
during  her  reign  : this  great  leader  of  men,  who  \ 
i knew  so  well  how  to  make  use  of  them,  did  j 
\not  know  how  to  choose  them.  Her  judgment, 


274 


CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


usually  so  accurate  and  penetrating,  her  lucidity, 
great  as  it  was,  deserted  her  on  this  point.  * She 
could  not  see  in  others  either  the  qualities  or  the 
defects  that  she  discovered  and  analysed  in  herselC 
\jvith  so  extraordinary  a clearness  of  sight.  There 
was  here  a gap  in  her  intelligence,  due  probably, 
in  part  at  least,  to  the  influence  of  her  tempera- 
ment. It  seems  that  her  vision  of  men  in  general 
was  disturbed,  in  this  respect,  by  the  breath  of 
passion  which  influenced  all  her  life.'!  The  general, 
the  statesman,  of  whom  she  had  neea,  she  seemed 
to  see  only  through  the  male  whom  she  liked  or 
disliked.  What  she  looked  for  first,  in  the  face  of 
any  functionary  whatever,  was  the  romantic  side, 
the  more  or  less  attractive  exterior.  That  she  took 
Patiomkine  for  an  able  man  may  be  excused  ; he 
was  perhaps  a madman,  but  he  had  the  madness 
of  genius.  He  belonged  to  the  category  of  men 
who  are  called  forces  of  nature.  And  this  forcer^^ 
let  loose  upon  immensity  in  this  ‘fallow  land’  for 
which  Catherine  felt  that  she  had  been  born,  had 
its  value.  But  after  Patiomkine  came  Zoubof. 

He  was  a mere  puppet : Catherine  took  him  for 
a man  of  genius. 

The  contrary  also  happened  to  her.  Rou- 
miantsof  having  presented  before  her  one  of  his 
lieutenants.  General  Weissmann,  whom  he  judged 
capable  of  taking  his  place  in  case  of  need, 
Catherine  conversed  with  him  on  three  occasions, 
and,  having  turned  him  this  way  and  that,  ‘ came 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  an  absolute  fool.’ 
The  wretched  man  shortly  afterwards  rushed 
upon  his  death  in  the  battle  of  Koutchouk- 
Kajnardji.  In  the  opinion  of  all  competent 
to  judge,  he  was  beyond  compare  as  a soldier, 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


275 


and  valiant  among  the  valiant.  One  historian 
has  called  him  ‘the  Achilles  of  the  Russian 
army.^ 

These  mistake_s^-Qf-4udgnient  were  frequent. 
But  Catherine  did  more  than  this,  and  worse. 
With  the  obstinacy  which  characterised  her,  and 
the  infatuation  that  her  successes  gave  her,  she 
came  little  by  little  to  translate  this  capital  defect 
into  a parti pris,  to  formulate  it  as  a system  ; one 
man  was  worth  another,  in  her  eyes,  so  long  as 
he  was  docile  and  prompt  to  obey.  She  had  in 
this  respect  maxims  which  might  well  disconcert 
her  admirers. 

‘Tell  me,’  she  wrote  to  Grimm,  ‘if  ever 
sovereign  has  more  absolutely  chosen  his  min- 
isters according  to  the  voice  of  public  opinion 
than  Louis  XVI.  ? And  we  have  seen  what 
happened.  According  to  me,  no  country  has  a 
dearth  of  men.  Don’t  try  to  look  all  round  about 
you,  try  to  use  what  you  have  at  hand.  It  is 
always  said  of  us  that  we  have  a dearth  of  men  ; 
yet  in  spite  of  all,  things  come  right.  Peter  I. 
bad  the  same,  and  knew  not  how  to  read  or  write ; 
well,  did  not  things  succeed  ? Ergo,  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  a dearth  of  men  ; there  is  a multi- 
tude, but  you  must  make  them  move  : all  will  go 
well  if  you  have  this  other  to  make  them  move. 
What  does  your  coachman  do,  soiiffre-douleur, 
when  you  are  boxed  up  in  your  coach  t A good 
heart  goes  everywhere ; because  this  or  that  is 
narrow  and  limited,  the  master  is  not.’ 

And  again : ‘ Assuredly  men  of  worth  are 
never  lacking,  for  it  is  affairs  which  make  men\ 
and  men  which  make  affairs  ; I have  never  tried  \ 
to  look  for  them,  and  I have  always  found  close  ) 


276 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


at  hand  the  men  who  have  served  me,  and  I have 
for  the  most  part  been  well  served.’ 

This  does  not  hinder  her  from  one  day  making 
this  reflection,  which  she  puts  in  a letter  to  the 
Prince  de  Ligne — 

* Ah,  Prince,  who  knows  better  than  I do  that 
there  are  clerks  who  are  ignorant  that  a maritime 
town  has  a port  ? ’ 

And  this  other — 

‘ It  is  not  ideas  which  are  wanting;  it  is  in  the 
execution,  it  is  in  the  application,  that  things  often 
go  awry.’ 

This  does  not  prevent  her,  in  1774,  from  being 
on  the  point  of  going  to  Moscow  herself  in  order 
to  put  down  Pougatchef ; for,  since  the  death  of 
Bibikof,  she  knows  not  who  can  cope  with  him. 
She  summons  a council : Gregory  Orlof  declares 
that  he  has  slept  badly  and  has  not  an  idea 
in  his  head ; Razoumofski  and  Galitzine  are 
silent ; Patiomkine  is  for  the  man  whom  she 
chooses ; Panine  alone  has  the  courage  to  give 
advice,  and  his  advice  is  that  the  Empress 
should  appeal  to  his  brother,  General  Panine, 
whose  services  she  has  long  neglected,  thinking 
that  another  would  do  equally  well  in  his  place. 
The  peril  being  urgent,  she  submits,  sacrifices 
her  amour-propre,  and  Panine  saves  the  crown 
and  the  empire.  In  1788,  after  the  first  en- 
counter with  the  Swedes,  she  court-martials  three 
captains  of  frigates ; the  next  day  she  writes  to 
Patiomkine  : ‘ They  deserve  the  gallows,  but  there 
is  nobody  else  to  put  in  their  place,  unless  he  falls 
from  the  sky.’ 

With  the  multiplicity  of  her  enterprises,  and 
with  her  ideas  on  this  point,  which  are  but  the 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


277 


expression  of  her  caprices,  she  uses  up  a terrible 
number  of  men.  Her  maxim,  that  * affair.?  make 
men  ’ leads  her  to  multiply  to  excess  the  number 
of  functionaries.  According  to  one  testimony,  if 
the  two  capitals  and  a few  other  larger  towns  are 
left  out  of  the  question,  there  is  one  functionary 
to  every  ten  inhabitants  in  the  provinces. 
And  her  idea  that  one  man  is  worth  as  much  as 
another  causes  her,  for  a mere  nothing,  for  a 
word  that  offends  her,  for  a cast  of  countenance 
that  she  finds  unpleasing,  or  even  without  motive, 
for  the  pleasure  of  change  and  the  delight  of 
having  to  do  with  some  one  new,  as  she  avows 
naively  in  a letter  to  Grimm,  to  set  aside, 
disgraced  or  merely  cashiered,  one  or  another 
of  her  most  devoted  servants.  In  1788  Rou- 
miantsof,  the  greatest  warrior  whom  Russia  pro- 
duced before  Souvarof,  is  still  alive,  and  well 
able  to  take  the  command,  and  Alexis  Orlof, 
the  hero  of  Tchesme,  is  burning  to  renew  his 
old  exploits.  He  has  had  a certain  apprentice- 
ship to  the  trade,  which  he  entered  into 
in  1770,  and  a name  that  the  enthusiasm  of 
Catherine  herself  has  surrounded  with  such  an 
aureole,  that  his  reputation  is  worth  in  itself  a 
fleet  or  an  army.  But  both  the  one  and  the 
other,  Roumiantsof  and  Orlof,  have  long  been 
i sacrificed  to  Patiomkine,  and  Catherine  is  re- 
duced to  seeking  generals  and  admirals  in  Eng- 
land, in  Holland,  in  Germany.  At  last  she 
finds  Nassau-Siegen,  who,  after  having  enchanted 
her  by  his  matador  airs  and  stage  costumes,  ere 
long  costs  her  a fleet,  and  the  shame  of  a disaster 
without  precedent  in  the  history  of  the  young 
, Russian  navy. 


278  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

The  exlxayagant  optimism,  which  is  part  of 
the  character  of  Catherine,  and  which  colleagnes 
like  Nassau  and  Patiomkine  assiduously  encour- 
age, has  also  to  be  observed.  The  story  of  the 
scene-painting  on  canvas,  which,  during  the  visit 
to  the  Crimea,  is  said  to  have  represented  the 
absent  villages,  has  been  disproved.  It  is  not 
so  very  far  from  the  truth,  on  the  testimony  even 
of  those  who  have  contested  its  reality.  The 
Prince  de  Ligne  is  among  these ; he  observes, 
nevertheless,  that  Catherine,  never  going  on  foot, 
could  see  no  more  than  what  was  shown  her,  and 
imagined  frequently  that  a town  was  built  and 
inhabited,  ‘ when  this  town  had  no  streets,  the 
streets  no  houses,  and  the  houses  no  roofs,  doors, 
or  windows.’  The  Comte  de  Langeron,  who 
was  afterwards  governor  of  these  very  provinces, 
and  whose  memoirs  have  not  the  slightest  trace 
of  retrospective  hostility,  goes  even  further.  A 
proclamation  of  the  governor  of  Harkof,  Vassili 
Tchertkof,  issued  at  the  same  time  to  announce 
to  the  inhabitants  the  coming  of  the  sovereign, 
and  to  instruct  them  in  their  duties  on  this 
solemn  occasion,  is  equally  characteristic  in  the 
same  way.  It  is  severely  ordered  that  the  in- 
habitants are  to  dress  themselves  in  their  best 
clothes  when  her  Majesty  is  expected  to  pass  by. 
The  girls  are  to  have  their  hair  carefully  combed 
out  and  adorned  with  flowers.  They  are  also 
to  strew  flowers  on  the  Empress’s  path,  and 
all  the  population  is  to  ‘express  its  delight  by 
appropriate  gestures  and  attitudes.’  The  houses 
on  the  route  are  to  be  repainted,  the  roofs 
repaired,  the  doors  and  windows  decked  with 
festoons,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  with  rugs 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


279 


pleasing  to  the  eye.  It  is  forbidden  for  any  one 
to  get  drunk,  or  to  present  to  her  Majesty  the 
smallest  request ; this  under  penalty  of  the  knout 
and  hard  labour.  The  local  magistrates  will  see 
to  it  in  addition  that  the  passage  of  the  sovereign 
does  not  raise  the  price  of  food.  Prince  Chtcher- 
batof  relates  that  at  Moscow  all  the  beggars  had 
been  put  outside,  so  that  the  Empress  should  not 
see  them.  ‘The  Empress  has  looked,  but  not 
seen  (vidiela  i ne  vidala),’  he  adds,  with  an  un- 
translatable play  on  words.  This  is  how  she 
came  to  be  convinced  that  ‘ there  were  no  hungry 
people  in  Russia.’  She  gives  that  assurance  one 
day  to  Grimm ! 

■'  But  the  conquest  and  the  arrangement  of  the 
Tauric  peninsula  were,  in  the  hands  of  Patiom- 
kine,  nothing  but  a colossal  faerie  mounted  by 
that  prodigious  improvisatore  and  disappearing 
with  him.  It  was  difficult  to  decide,  on  seeing 
him  at  work,  which  to  admire  the  most : his 
extraordinary  activity  and  the  fertility  of  his 
imagination,  or  the  incredible  naivetd  with  which 
both  Catherine  and  himself  take  their  creation, 
part  madness,  part  fancy,  part  childish  mystifica- 
tion, absolutely  mi  sdrieux.  A desert  is  to  be 
transformed  into  a cultivated  and  v/ell- populated 
land,  inhabited  by  industry  and  the  arts,  and 
this  is  to  be  done  in  a few  years,  as  if  by  magic. 
Patiomkine  sets  to  work.  He  plants  forests  in 
the  Steppes,  imports  the  seeds  of  all  known 
[vegetables,  trains  vines,  cultivates  mulberry-trees 
ifor  silk-worms,  builds  manufactories,  theatres, 
palaces,  barracks,  and  cathedrals.  He  covers  the 
peninsula  with  magnificent  towns.  The  history 
of  these  towns  is  astounding.  The  examples 


28o  CATHERINE  II.  of  RUSSIA 

which  America  offers  to-day  to  our  astonishment, 
in  the  same  order  of  instantaneous  improvisa- 
tions, are  outdone.  In  178a  a site  is  wanted 
for  the  capital  of  the  province,  which  is  to  be 
named  ‘ lekatierinoslaf  ’ — glory  of  Catherine. 
Two  months  after  the  site  has  been  marked  out, 
there  is  already  a project  for  a university,  open 
not  only  to  natives,  but  also  to  the  strangers 
who  are  expected  to  flock  from  all  the  corners 
of  Europe.  Soon  an  army  of  workmen  appears 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  at  the  spot 
chosen,  not  far  from  a humble  Tartar  village 
called  Kaidak ; Lieutenant  Sinielnikof,  who  has 
charge  of  them,  receives  200,000  roubles  for  the 
first  cost,  and  the  work  commences.  The  town 
is  to  extend  along  the  river  about  25  versts,  and 
to  cover  300  square  versts  with  streets  200  feet 
wide.  There  is  to  be  a park,  with  a botanical 
gardeflr^hrpSnd,  and  different  other  embellish- 
ments. In  the  middle  is  to  bo  the  palace  of  the 
Prince  of  Taurida,  Patiomkine  the  magnificent. 
Around  are  the  buildings  apportioned  to  the 
different  services  of  the  administration  ; then 
come  the  dwellings  of  the  workmen  employed  in 
building  the  town,  the  workshops,  the  manu- 
factories, the  houses  of  the  coming  population. 
Twelve  large  factories,  one  of  them  for  silk 
fabrics,  are  planned,  and  the  funds  for  establish- 
ing them  partly  collected.  A town-hall  in  the 
style  of  the  old  basilicas,  a great  bazaar  in  the 
style  of  the  Propylaeum,  a Bourse,  a theatre,  a 
Conservatoire  of  music,  finally  a cathedral  on  the 
model  of  St.  Peter’s,  but  larger,  will  be  erected 
in  various  parts  of  the  city,  suitably  chosen.  The 
materials  are  ready,  Patiomkine  declares.  In 


THE  ART  OF  RULING 


281 


addition,  professors  are  already  summoned  for 
the  university  and  the  conservatoire.  The  cele- 
brated Sarti  is  to  direct  the  latter.  For  the  chair 
of  history  in  the  university  a Frenchman  named 
Guyenne  is  appointed,  a soldier  by  profession. 
But  these  details  must  not  be  looked  into  too 
closely.  An  observatory  too  is  thought  of,  and 
a sort  of  Quartier  Latin  for  the  students. 

Such  are  the  plans ; now  see  the  results.  The 
palace.-Q£  JEatiomkine  is  built  of  conservatories, 
one  for  pine-apples,  another  for  laurels  and 
orange-trees,  others  again  for  pomegranates, 
dates,  etc.  The  silk  factory  is  also  built.  It 
costs  240,000  roubles,  and  works  for  two  years, 
after  which  various  reasons,  the  principal  of  which 
is  a scarcity  of  material,  bring  it  to  an  end.  The 
silk-worm  industry,  for  which  a manager  has 
been  brought  from  abroad  at  a considerable 
salary,  produces  a maximum  of  twenty  pounds  of 
silk  a year!  The  remainder  of  the  great  city 
exists  only  in  fancy.  But  lekatierinoslaf  had,  all 
the  same,  a chance  of  becoming  in  time  a little 
provincial  town.  ^ Kherson,  of  which  Joseph  II. 
laid  the  first  stone  in  1787,  saying  that  after  him 
Catherine  had  laid  the  last,  did  not  even  arrive 
at  this  modest  result.  In  other  parts  of  the 
empire  the  rapid  erection  of  administrative  or 
industrial  centres  ran.  similar  risks.  In  1787 
the  poet  Dierjavine,  accompanying  the  governor 
of  Petrosavodsk  in  a journey  undertaken  for  the 
inauguration  of  a town  which  had  been  appointed 
chief  town  of  the  district,  never  reached  the  goal, 
he  tells  us  : the  town  existed  only  on  paper ! 

Nevertheless  the  Crimea  was  conquered  and 
began  to  be  populated. 

19  . 


282 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


‘Such,  in  Russia,’  said  the  Comte  de  Segur,  ‘ is 
the  double  magic  of  absolute  power  and  of  passive 
obedience,  that  nobody  murmurs,  even  though  in 
want  of  everything,  and  things  go  on,  although 
nothing  has  been  prepared  or  looked  after  in 
advance.’ 

‘ Things  went  on,’  in  fact,  from  one  end  to  the 
other  of  Catherine’s  reign,  and  ‘passive  obe- 
dience,’ no  doubt,  had  a large  share  in  it.  The 
adventure  of  Sutherland,  the  English  banker  at 
St.  Petersburg,  is  well  known.  One  day  the 
chief  of  police,  Ryleief,  presents  himself,  and, 
\ with  all  sorts  of  excuses,  communicates  to  him  an 
order  of  the  sovereign  which  concerns  him,  an 
^order  which  he  cannot  but  deplore,  despite  his 
respect  for  the  will  of  her  Majesty,  but  which  it  is 
out  of  his  power  not  to  execute.  In  a word,  he 
has  been  ordered  to  stuff  unfortunate  banker. 
A Conceive  of  the  poor  man’s  fright ! Happily  the 
mistake  is  discovered  in  time.  The  Empress 
had  spoken  of  stuffing  a favourite  dog  that  she 
had  lost,  and  the  English  name  had  put  Ryleief 
on  the  wronof  track.  The  English  Dr.  Dimsdale 

o o ^ 

relates,  in  the  notes  he  has  left  on  his  residence 
in  Russia,  that  having  wished  to  take  the  lymph 
for  inoculating  the  Empress  from  a child  belong 
ing  to  poor  moujiks,  the  mother  opposed  it : 
according  to  the  general  belief,  it  meant  the 
death  of  the  child.  But  the  father  intervened  : 
‘ If  the  Empress  c/dered  us  to  cut  off  both  the 
child’s  legs,  should  we  not  do  it  t ’ Dimsdale 
adds  nevertheless  another  characteristic.  The 
sick  child  was  placed  in  an  overheated  room,  in 
a fetid  atmosphere,  the  opening  of  a window 
according  to  the  parents,  meaning  certain  death. 


TBi.  ^xj.\.  X \yj.  RULING  283 

But  Dimsdale  produced  a rouble  : he  could  open 
as  much  as  he  liked. 

The  anecdote  reveals  another  agent,  universal 
and  all-powerful,  which  the  ways  of  the  country 
put  in  the  hands  of  Catherine.  She  did  not  fail 
to  use  it.  She  used  it  vigorously  and  to  excess, 
after  her  usual  style.  She  gave  much,  and  let 
even  more  be  taken.  The  waste  of  money  in 
every  branch  of  the  administration  was  enormous. 
One  day  Catherine,  in  the  midst  of  a violent 
headache,  could  not  suppress  a smile : ‘ She  did 
not  wonder  that  she  was  suffering  so  much,  for 
she  had  seen  in  the  accounts  that  she  used  a poud 
(over  thirty  pounds)  of  powder  every  day  for  her 
hair ! ’ This  detail  enables  one  to  judge  of  the 
rest.  But  the  accounts  that  Harris  sent  to  the 
English  court,  with  the  detail  of  ‘tens  of  thou- 
sands of  pounds  sterling’  used  by  his  French 
colleagues  in  corrupting  the  functionaries  of  the 
Empress,  were  not  less  fanciful.  The  Baron  de 
Breteuil  was  the  sole  French  minister  at  this 
epoch  who  was  empowered  to  employ  in  this 
manner  a considerable  sum,  to  the  extent  of  a 
million  of  francs ; and  he  never  made  use  of  the 
permission.  His  successors  had  something  to  do 
to  obtain  a few  ten  thousand  pounds  intended  for 
the  buying  over  of  certain  influences  or  certain 
secret  documents.  And  these  attempts,  con- 
sidered even  at  Versailles  as  useless  or  dangerous, 
had  not  as  a rule  any  success’ during  the  reign  of 
Catherine.  A functionary  of  the  Empress,  who 
had,  or  appeared  to  have,  a great  fancy  for  a fine 
coach  made  in  Paris,  thought  better  of  it  before 
he  had  received  the  present,  and  informed  the 
sovereign,  who  dictated  to  him  herself  an  ironi- 


284 


CATHERINE  IL  OF  RUSSIA 


cally-polite  letter  of  refusal.  After  the  Baron 
de  Breteuil,  in  the  long  series  of  agents  repre- 
senting the  French  policy  who  succeeded  him 
at  St.  Petersburg,  the  Comte  de  Segur  was 
the  only  one  who  succeeded  in  exercising  any 
particular  influence,  and  money,  which  he  would 
have  found  it  very  difficult  to  raise,  had  no 
share  in  this. 

From  1762  to  the  death  of  Catherine,  them 
was  only  one  great  corrupting  influence  in  her\ 
empire — and  that  was  herself.  It  is  certain  thatjl 
she  used  it  mainly  for  the  good  of  the  empire,  as  > 
she  conceived  it,  and  that  she  found  in  it  the^ 
resources  for  the  accomplishment  of  great  things.  ) 
It  is  not  less  certain  that  morality  had  to  suffer/ 
for  it,  and  that  the  influence  of  ideas  and 
customs  thus  implanted  in  the  national  genius, 
was  destined  to  exercise  on  its  later  development 
a long  and  untoward  action. 

We  shall  now  endeavour  to  p?''s  rapidly  in 
review  the  results  obtained  by  means  of  all  these 
resources  as  they  were  wielded  in  the  hands  of 
the  sovereign. 


CHAPTER  II 

HOME  POLICY 

I 

Happy  is  the  nation  without  a history:  from 
1775  the  Russian  people  counted,  in  point  of 
view  of  the  home  policy,  among  the  happy 
nations.  After  the  great  effort  which  she  had  .to 


HOME  POLICY 


283 

make  in  putting  down  the  revolt  of  Pougatchef, 
Catherine  found  herself  at  first  fatigued,  then 
disenchanted,  and  finally  absorbed  by  her  foreign  ( 
policy,  by  the  conquest  of  the  Crimea,  the  second  / 
Turkish  war,  the  second  and  third  division  of  i 
Poland,  and  the  anti-revolutionary  campaign,  \ 
Up  to  1775  she  asserted,  and  had  need  to  assert,  J 
her  exuberant  activity  in  every  direction.  She 
had  first  to  defend  her  throne  against  a series  of 
more  or  less  threatening  attempts.  A series  of 
repressive  measures,  more  or  less  calculated  to 
add  to  her  glory,  corresponded  with  them. 

In  October  1762  a certain  Peter  Hrouchtchof 
was  accused,  with  the  brothers  Simon,  Ivan,  and 
Peter  Gourief,  of  having  plotted  for  the  re- 
establishment on  the  throne  of  Ivan  of  Brunswick, 
shut  up  since  1741  in  prison.  Having  been 
condemned,  together  with  his  accomplices,  to 
transportation  to  the  government  of  Oremburg, 
Hrouchtchof' took  part  in  1772  in  the  revolt  of 
the  exiles  in  Siberia,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
famous  Beniowski.  He  succeeded  in  escaping, 
after  a series  of  romantic  adventures,  reached  the 
west  of  Europe  by  way  of  America,  and  served 
in  the  French  army  in  the  rank  of  captain. 

This  conspiracy,  true  or  false,  for  the  reality  of 
the  criminal  intentions  imputed  to  the  accused 
seems  not  to  have  been  clearly  established,  has 
often  been  confused  with  another  later  event,  in 
which  the  Princess  Dachkof  was  compromised. 

In  May  1763,  during  Catherine’s  visit  to  Moscow 
on  the  occasion  of  her  coronation,  fresh  arrests 
for  high  treason  were  commanded  by  the  Empress. 
But  the  unhappy  Ivan,  languishing  in  his  prison, 
was  not  the  cause  this  time.  It  was  quite 


286 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


another  affair.  There  had  been  a rumour  that 
Catherine  intended  to  marry  Gregory  Orlof. 
Some  of  those  who  had  taken  the  most  active 
part  in  the  elevation  of  the  new  Czarina,  Fedor 
Hitrovo  at  their  head,  judged  the  interests  of  the 
empire  endangered  by  this  real  or  imaginary 
project.  They  formed  a plot  to  hinder  the 
Empress  from  carrying  it  out,  or,  in  case  of 
her  persisting,  to  kill  the  favourite.  Hitrovo, 
the  first  to  be  arrested,  named  as  accomplices, 
Paninel  Hliebof,  Tieplof,  Passek,  the  greater 
part  o|  the  heroes  of  the  12th  of  July,  and  the 
Princes  Dachkof.  He  afterwards  contradicted 
his  as^rtions,  and  declared  that  he  had  only  had 
to  do  wiith  more  obscure  friends,  the  two  brothers 
Roslavlef  and  Lasounski.  Princess  Dachkof,  on 
being  e^amin^ed,  declared  proudly  that  she  knew 
nothing  in  the  matter,  but  that,  if  she  had  known 
anything,  she  would  have  kept  silence  just  the 
same.  Moreover,  if  the  Empress  wished  to  bring 
her  head  to  the  scaffold,  after  she  had  helped  to 
set  the  crown  on  hers,  she  was  prepared ! The 
affair  had  no  very  serious  consequences.  Hitrovo 
alone  was  exiled  in  the  government  of  Orel.  A 
ukase  was  also  proclaimed  in  the  streets  of 
Moscow,  to  the  sound  of  the  drum,  a ukase  which 
was  merely  the  repetition  of  an  earlier  act  of 
Elizabeth’s  government  (June  5,  1757),  by  which 
it  was  forbidden  to  the  inhabitants  to  occupy 
themselves  with  matters  which  did  not  concern 
them.  The  affairs  of  state  in  general  were  com- 
prised in  the  enumeration  of  subjects  thus  denoted. 
The  interdiction  was  renewed  in  1772. 

Almost  at  the  same  time,  a priest,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rostof,  Arsene  Matsieievitch,  raised 


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the  standard  of  revolt  in  a much  more  audacious 
manner.  The  policy  of  Catherine  in  regard  to 
the  orthodox  clergy  (fid  not  TalTto  give  rise  to 
well-established  criticisms.  On  coming  to  the 
throne  she  had  pronounced  vigorously  against 
the  measures  by  which  Peter  III.  haci  brought 
about  the  disaffection,  if  not  the  active  opposi- 
tion, of  the  church.  She  had  reopened  the 
private  chapels,  closed  by  order  of  the  Czar, 
forbidden  the  performance  of  pagan  plays  at  the 
theatre,  reinforced  the  censorship  of  books ; 
finally,  she  had  put  an  end  to  the  .secularisation 
of  ecclesiastical  property.  Suddenly  she  changed 
her  mind,  and  revoked  all  these  measures  in 
protection  of  interests  which  she  thought  it  no 
longer  needful  to  consult.  A part  of  the  goods 
returned  to  their  former  possessors  was  the 
object  of  fresh  claims.  The  clergy  in  general 
bowed  the  head,  as  they  had  clone  before. 
Arsine  alone  rose  in  defence  of  the  common 
rights  thus  outraged.  He  went  so  far  as  to 
introduce  into  the  ritual  certain  new  formulas 
which,  under  colour  of  menacing  the  enemies  of 
the  church,  were  levelled  directly  against  the 
Empress.  Arrested  and  brought  before  the 
sovereign,  he  broke  out  into  language  so  violent 
that  her  Majesty  was  obliged  to  cover  her  ears. 
He  was  condemned  to  be  degraded  from  his 
office,  and  shut  up  in  a cloister,  where  he  was 
employed,  by  express  order,  in  the  meanest  work, 
in  fetching  water  and  chopping  wood.  Four 
years  later,  after  a new  attempt  at  revolt,  he  was 
removed  from  the  cloister  to  a better-guarded 
prison.  The  fortress  of  Revel  was  selected  in 
order  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  talk  in  Russian 


288  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

with  his  keepers,  who  only  understood  Lithuanian, 
He  changed  his  name,  and  called  himself  the 
peasant  Andre  Vral,  that  is  to  say,  liar,  or  Brodi- 
g'iaguine,  that  is  to  say,  brigand.  He  died  in 
1772.  A year  afterwards,  a shopkeeper  named 
Smoline  renewed  the  protest  of  the  unfortunate 
bishop  against  the  infringement  of  the  rights  of 
the  clergy.  In  a letter  addressed  to  the  Empress, 
and  filled  with  the  most  virulent  invectives,  he 
openly  accused  the  sovereign  of  having  ap- 
propriated the  goods  of  the  church  in  order  to 
distribute  them  to  Orlof  and  other  favourites. 
He  ended  with  this  apostrophe  : ‘ Thou  hast  a 
heart  of  stone  like  Pharaoh.  ...  Of  what  chastise- 
ment art  thou  not  worthy,  thou  who  every  day 
dost  chastise  robbers  and  brigands  ! ’ Catherine 
proved  that  the  mad  creature  calumniated  her 
by  showing  him  mercy.  Smoline  was  only  im- 
prisoned for  five  years,  after  which,  at  his  own 
request,  he  was  made  a monk,  and  nothing  more 
was  heard  of  him. 

Nevertheless,  in  1764,  the  death  of  Ivan  of 
Brunswick  had  already  added  another  stain  of 
blood  to  that  which  the  drama  of  Ropcha  left  on 
the  dazzling  horizon  of  the  new  reign.  Ivan,  it 
may  be  remembered,  was  the  little  Emperor  of 
two  years  old,  dethroned  in  1741  by  Elizabeth. 
Shut  up  at  first  with  the  rest  of  his  family  at 
Holmogory,  on  the  White  Sea,  then,  alone,  in 
the  fortress  of  Schlusselburg,  he  had  grown  up 
in  the  shadow  of  the  dungeon.  He  was  said  to 
be  weak-minded  and  to  stutter  ; but  he  had 
reigned,  and  such  another  act  of  violence  as  the 
one  that  had  dethroned  him  might  reinstate  hirn 
on  the  throne  : he  remained  a menace.  He  gave 


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some  anxiety  to  Voltaire  himself,  who  foresaw 
that  the  philosophers  would  not  find  in  him 
a friend.  In  September  1764  he  disappeared. 
The  incident  has  given  rise  to  contradictory  tales 
and  comments,  in  which  history  is  quite  at  a loss. 
To  oblige  his  imperial  benefactress,  the  patriarch 
of  Ferney  was  good  enough  to  ‘arrange’  the 
incident.  Others  have  done  the  same,  Catherine 
the  first  of  all.  Here  are  the  known  facts.  An 
officer  of  the  name  of  Mirovitch,  on  guard  at  the 
fortress  of  Schlusselburg,  induced  a party  of  men 
under  his  command  to  render  him  assistance  in 
setting  free  the  ‘Czar.’  But  Ivan  had  two 
guardians,  to  whom  the  strict  command  had  been 
given  to  kill  him  rather  than  let  him  escape. 
They  killed  him.  Catherine  was  suspected  of 
complicity  in  the  murder  : she  was  thought  to 
have  planned  the  whole  thing  with  Mirovitch. 
He,  it  is  true,  let  himself  be  judged,  condemned, 
and  executed  without  a word ; but  had  he  not 
been  made  to  believe  that  he  would  be  reprieved 
at  the  last  moment } Precedents  existed  ; under 
Elizabeth,  several  high  dignitaries,  Osterman 
among  others,  had  profited  by  the  imperial 
clemency  at  the  very  moment  when  their  head 
rested  on  the  block. 

There  were  certain  curious  details  in  the 
trial : on  the  express  command  of  the  Empress, 
no  attempt  was  made  to  find  other  accomplices, 
likely  as  they  were  to  be  found,  in  the  crime. 
The  relatives  of  Mirovitch  were  not  interfered 
with.  It  would  be  unreasonable  to  try  to  prove 
an  accusation  on  such  vague  grounds.  Catherine 
showed  once  again,  in  these  circumstances,  the 
force  of  mind  which  she  possessed.  She  was 


290  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

travelling  in  Livonia  when  the  news  reached 
her.  She  did  not  hasten  her  return,  or  make 
any  change  in  her  itinerary. 

But  the  great  crisis  in  home  afifairs  was  that 
of  1 77 1- 1 775.  At  all  times,  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century  at  least,  Russia  has  been 
the  home  of  pretenders.  From  the  first  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  after  the  extinction 
of  the  dynasty  of  Rourik,  they  followed  one 
another  at  brief  intervals.  Under  Catherine 
the  series  was  almost  interminable.  In  1765 
two  deserters,  Gavrilo  Kremnief  and  levdokimof, 
successively  assumed  the  name  of  Peter  III. 
In  1769  there  was  a fresh  apparition  of  the 
murdered  Czar,  and  it  was  once  more  a deserter, 
Mamykine,  who  assumed  the  tragic  and  am- 
bitious mask.  Emelian  Pougatchef  is  thus  only 
the  continuation  of  a series.  But  this  time 
Catherine  has  not  to  do  with  an  obscure  plot  or 
a puerile  attempt,  which  a few  blows  of  the  knout 
or  the  axe  will  soon  set  right.  A whole  tempest 
is  let  loose  after  the  wild  Samozvaniets,  a storm 
which  threatens  to  shake  the  throne  and  the 
foundations  of  the  empire  in  a general  downfall 
of  the  whole  political  and  social  structure.  It 
is  no  more  a mere  duel  between  usurpers  more 
or  less  well-armed  for  the  defence  or  the  con- 
quest of  a crown,  which  has  so  long  been  at 
the  disposal  of  whoever  can  seize  upon  it.  The 
contest  has  another  name  and  another  bearing. 
It  is  a contest  between  the  modern  state,  which 
Catherine  is  endeavouring  to  extricate  from  the 
unfinished  materials  left  by  Peter  I.  to  his  heirs, 
and  the  primitive  state,  in  which  the  mass  of 
the  people  persist  in  still  living ; between  organi- 


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satiqn  anijhfi  inorganic  disorder,  which  is  the 
natural  mode  of  existence  of  savage  nations ; 
between  centralisation  and  the  centrifugal  force 
which  is  peculiar  to  that  state  of  nature.  It 
is  also  the  cry  of  that  misery,  in  which  the 
depths  of  the  populace  lie  buried,  rising  against 
the  improvised  splendour  of  a class,  how  con- 
fined ! of  privileged  persons.  It  is  the  obscure 
protestation  of  the  national  conscience  against 
the  panegyrics  of  philosophers  and  poets,  of 
Voltaire  and  Dierjavine,  chanting  the  splendours 
of  the  new  reign.  For  if  Catherine,  on  the 
heights  on  which  she  is  surrounded  by  her 
crowd  of  dignitaries  and  favourites,  by  all  the 
pomp  and  majesty  of  her  supreme  rank,  has 
done  much  already  to  give  incomparable  lustre 
to  her  name,  her  power,  her  own  greatness, 
she  has  done  as  yet  nothing,  or  almost  nothing, 
for  those  under  her,  for  the  poor,  the  lowly, 
who  toil  and  suffer  as  in  the  past,  who  have  na 
share  in  these  triumphs  and  conquests  on  high^ 
who  know  nothing  of  them,  save  to  be  ex- 
asperated by  the  reflection  which  does  but  light 
up  the  depths  of  their  own  misery.  Among 
these,  the  short  reign  of  Peter  III.  had  awakened 
hopes  and  left  behind  it  regrets.  The  seculari- 
sation of  the  estates  of  the  clergy,  begun  by  the 
Emperor,  had  seemed  to  lead  the  way  towards 
the  enfranchisement  of  the  serfs,  and  did  indeed 
point  in  that  direction,  for  the  serfs  belonging 
to  the  secularised  domains  became  free.  We 
have  seen  that  Catherine  put  an  end  to  this. 
Peter  had  also  inaugurated  a system  of  absolute 
tolerance  in  regard  to  religious  dissent.  He 
had  no  wish  to  keep  special  watch  over  the 


292  CATHERINE  IT.  OF  RUSSIA 

welfare  of  the  orthodox  church.  Legend,  as 
usual,  exaggerated  his  merits.  Th.^  skoptsi,  or 
mutilators,  in  particular,  venerated  in  him  a 
saint  and  martyr  of  their  cause.  His  affiliation 
to  their  sect  was,  they  imagined,  the  real  reason 
of  his  death ; and  the  accidents  of  his  married 
life  lent  some  colour  to  these  fables.  Catherine, 
as  we  have  seen,  did  not  follow  in  this  respect 
either  the  course  of  her  husband,  and  what  had 
made  her  victorious  now  turned  against  her. 
The  raskol  played  a considerable  part  in  the 
movement  of  insurrection,  and  with  it  all  the 
elements  of  discontent  and  disorder,  even  to 
the  turbulent  restlessness  of  the  Asiatic  races, 
now  in  conflict,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kasan 
and  of  Moscow,  with  the  Russifying  headship 
of  the  state : all  that  entered  into  conflict  with  j 
the  state  and  the  rdgime  which  it  made  and 
maintained.-^  Emelian  Pougatchef  was  merely 
the  instrument,  the  nominal  leader  of  this 
general  uprising  of  the  rancours  and  appetites 
of  an  immense  proletariat.  Yet  earlier,  scattered^ 
instances  of  revolt  among  the  serfs  attached  to 
the  soil  had  often  been  seen.  In  1768,  in  the 
government  of  Moscow  alone,  there  were  nine 
cases  of  proprietors  killed  by  their  peasants. 

The  following  year  there  were  eight  more,  and  : 
among  the  victims  was  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
Seven  Years’  War,  General  Leontief,  taken 
prisoner  on  the  battlefield  of  Zorndorf,  and 
_married  to  a sister  of  the  victorious  Roumiantsof. 

Emelian  Pougatchef  was  the  son  of  a Cossack 
of  the  Don.  He  too  had  taken  part  in  the 
Seven  Years’  War,  where  he  had  distinguished 
himself,  had  served  also  against  the  Turks,  1 


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and  had  then  deserted.  He  was  captured, 
escaped  again,  and  entered  upon  the  career 
of  an  outlaw  and  brigand,  by  which  he  came 
in  time  to  the  sanguinary  drama  which  brought 
his  life  to  an  end.  The  fact  of  an  accidental 
resemblance  with  Peter  1 1 1.,  which  rendered  his 
imposition  more  practicable,  has  been  denied, 
and  seems  to  rest  on  no  serious  authority. 
The  portraits  of  the  Samozvaniets  which  have 
reached  us  show  no  trace  of  likeness.  Peter 
III.  had  the  face  of  a grimacing  ape;  Pou- 
gatchef’s  was  of  the  common  type  of  the  Russian 
moujik.  He  took  the  name  of  the  deceased 
Emperor  as  others  had  taken  it  before  him. 

But  he  had  the  fatal  luck  to  appear  at  the  ^ 
hour  marked  for  the  social  convulsion,  whose 
causes  we  have  indicated.  He  did  not  start 
the  movement,  which  had  long  been  gathering 
force ; it  was  rather  the  movement  that  bore 
him  with  it.  He  did  not  even  try  to  direct 
its  course.  He  put  himself  at  its  head  and 
rushed  forward  blindly,  urged  on  by  the  tumul- 
tuous and  threatening  flood.  It  was  a terrible 
course,  covering  with  smoking  ruins  a half  of 
the  empire.  After  four  years,  the  disciplined 
force  of  the  organised  element  got  the  better 
of  the  savage  element.  Pougatchef,  conquered 
and  made  prisoner  by  one  of  the  lieutenants  of 
Panine,  was  brought  to  Moscow  in  a wooden 
cage,  condemned  to  death,  and  executed.  The 
headsman  cut  off  his  head  before  quartering 
him.  Catherine  declared  that  it  was  by  her.^ 
order : she  wished  to  appear  more  clement  than 
Louis  XV.  had  been  with  Damiens.  She  had 
nevertheless  other  injuries  and  other  crimes  to 


294  CA  THERINE II.  OF  RUSSIA. 


f 


avenge.  The  victims  made  by  Pougatchef  and 
his  band  were  beyond  all  reckoning,  and  Cathe- 
rine had  been  greatly  terrified,  whatever  sallies, 
more  or  less  witty,  she  may  have  sent  to  Voltaire 
on  the  subject  of  the  ‘ Marquis  de  Pougatchef.’ 

An  odd  characteristic  of  this  incident,  but  odd 
in  a way  which  is  often  seen  in  similar  circum- 
stances, was  that,  while  revolting  against  the 
state,  as  they  saw  it  under  Catherine’s  organisa- 
tion, Pougatchef  and  his  companions  could  only 
copy  this  organisation,  ape  it  at  least,  even  to  the 
smallest  details  of  its  outer  forms.  After  having 
married  a daughter  of  the  people,  the  false 
emperor  gave  her  a species  of  court  of  honour. 
Young  peasants,  beaten  into  trim,  played  the 
freiline  with  immense  grotesqueness,  attempting 
ceremonious  reverences  and  a respectful  way  of 
kissing  the  hand.  To  increase  the  illusion  of  his 
supposed  sovereignty,  Pougatchef  even  went  the 
length  of  naming  his  principal  lieutenants  after 
the  principal  members  of  the  court  of  Catherine : 
the  Cossack  Tchika  took  the  name  of  Tcherni- 
chef,  with  the  title  of  field-marshal ; others  were 
called  Count  Vorontsof,  Count  Panine,  Count 
Orlof,  etc. 

This  comedy  cost  dear  to  every  one.  It  took 
from  Catherine  the  last  remains  of  her  former 
enthusiasm  for  the  redress  of  social  iniquities; 
Russia,  apart  from  immense  material  losses,  had 
probably  that  of  a reign  which  had  seemed  to  be 
fruitful  in  great  humanitarian  reforms.  The  home 
policy  of  Catherine  preserved  to  the  last,  as  we 
have  intimated,  the  trace  of  these  terrible  years, 
like  the  scar  of  blows  received  and  rendered  in  a 
fight  which  was  a fight  to  the  death.  There  were 


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( thers  among  the  dead  than  those  who  perished 
by  fire  or  steel.  Some  of  the  ideas  that  Catherine 
had  brought  with  her  to  the  government  of  the 
empire  remained  behind  on  the  field  of  battle ; 
and  perhaps  they  were  among  the  best  that  she 
had  brought. 

/ In  regard  to  the  department  of  police,  Cathe-^ 
rine’s  regime,  from  1775  especially,  was,  in  a sense, 
a rigime  of  reaction  against  that  which  Peter 
III.  had  inaugurated.  Peter  had  suppressed 
the  sinister  secret  chancellorship,  the  shameful 
heirloom  of  a time  which  Russia  hoped  never  to 
see  again.  Catherine  would  not  re-establish  the 
institution  with  its  hateful  obsolete  forms,  but 
little  by  little,  without  using  the  name,  she  re- 
stored something  very  like  the  thing.  She  had 
Stephen  Ivanovitch  Chechkofski.  A legend  has 
been  formed  about  this  mysterious  functionary, 
whom  Catherine  was  never  without.  The  reality, 
without  equalling  the  horror  of  the  memories  left 
by  the  functionaries  of  Ivan  Vassilevich,  was 
doubtless  of  a kind  to  cast  some  shadow  on  the 
reputation  that  the  friend  of  philosophers  desired 
to  preserve  in  Europe.  In  her  hands  it  was 
a cunning  and  hypocritical  machine  of  state. 
Chechkofski  had  neither  official  titles  corre- 
sponding with  his  position  nor  apparent  organisa- 
tion of  his  inquisitorial  work.  But  his  hand  and 
eye  were  everywhere.  He  seemed  to  possess  the 
gift  of  ubiquity.  He  never  arrested  anyone  : he 
sent  outran'  invitation  to  dinner,  which  no  one 
dared  refuse.  After  dinner,  there  was  conversa- 
tion, and  the  walls  of  the  comfortable  and  discreet 
abode  betrayed  none  of  the  secrets  of  these 
conversations.  A particular  chair  was,  it  seems. 


296 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


set  aside  for  the  guest,  whom  a word,  amiable  bui 
significant,  had  induced  to  cross  the  formidable 
threshold.  Suddenly  the  chair,  in  which  he  had 
politely  been  motioned  to  be  seated,  tightened 
upon  him,  and  descended  with  him  to  the  floor 
below,  in  such  a manner,  however,  that  the  head 
and  shoulders  of  the  personage  remained  above. 
The  victim  thus  preserved  his  incognito  from  the 
assistants  of  Chechkofski,  who  subjected  the 
lower  part  of  the  body  to  more  or  less  rigorous 
treatment.  Chechkofski  himself  turned  away  at 
this  moment,  and  appeared  to  ignore  what  was 
passing.  The  performance  finished,  and  the  chair 
restored  to  its  place,  the  host  turned  about,  and 
smilingly  took  up  the  conversation  at  the  point 
where  it  had  been  interrupted  by  this  little 
surprise.  It  is  said  that  a young  man,  fore- 
warned of  what  awaited  him,  used  his  presence  of 
mind,  and  his  great  muscular  strength,  to  thrust 
Chechkofski  himself  into  the  place  reserved  for 
him  on  the  fatal  seat.  After  this  he  took  to 
flight.  The  rest  can  be  imagined.  Chechkofski 
died  in  1 794,  leaving  a large  fortune. 


II 

The  great  ensemble  of  laws  which  Catherine 
proposed,  in  1767,  to  graft  upon  Russia,  on  the 
model  of  Montesquieu  and  Beccaria,  was  destined 
never  to  be  achieved,  despite  certain  legislative 
experiments,  done  always  by  fits  and  starts. 
The  main  reason  for  this,  apart  from  many 
secondary  reasons,  is  that  the  work  could  only 
be  done  by  beginning  at  the  beginning,  and  the 


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297 


beginning  was  the  reform,  if  not  the  suppression,^ 
of  serfdom. 

This  question,  be  it  said  to  the  honour  of 
Catherine,  is  one  of  those  that  occupied  her  mind 
the  most.  When  she  was  yet  Grand  Duchess, 
she  had,  as  we  have  seen,  certain  projects,  quite 
impracticable  indeed,  for  the  enfranchisement  of 
the  peasants  belonging  to  the  soil.  She  had 
found  in  books,  one  knows  not  where,  the  history 
of  a general  and  simultaneous  emancipation  of 
serfs  in  Germany,  France,  Spain,  and  other  coun- 
tries,— the  work  of  a council ! She  asked  herself 
if  a meeting  of  archimandrites  could  not  produce 
the  same  excellent  result  in  Russia.  On  reaching 
the  throne  she  inaugurated  the  great  work  by 
'TefoTming  the  condition  of  the  serfs  in  the  matter 
of  the  ecclesiastical  estates  confiscated  by  the 
Treasury  ; the  peasants,  included  there,  were 
subjected  simply  to  a light  poll-tax  ; all  that  they 
'plheTm' addlrion  was' thei^^  own  property,  and 
they  could  free  themselves  altogether  for  a 
moderate  amount.  It  was  the  offer  of  liberty  as 
a premium  on  the  labour  and  industry  of  those 
concerned ; and  it  was  a fruitful  idea.  Its  carry- 
ing out  was  not  without  inconveniences : the 
despoiled  monks  found  themselves  all  at  once 
reduced  to  beggary.  According  to  the  Marquis 
de  Bausset,  they  had  only  about  eight  roubles  a 
year  per  head  to  live  on ; they  were  forced  to  beg 
\._^pn  the  roads;  and  the  degradation. of  the  Russian 
"blergy,  one  of  the  most  melancholy  features  of 
modern  Russia,  may  well  be  derived,  in  part  at 
least,  from  this.  But  there  were  about  a million 
peasants  enfranchised,  or  about  to  be.  It  was 
a beginning.  For  further  progress,  Catherine 
20 


298  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

counted  on  her  legislative  commission.  She  had 
to  alter  her  course,  as  we  have  seen.  Her  In~ 
struction  had  in  this  respect  to  be  retouched  as 
we  have  indicated.  The  great  mass  of  peasants 
belonging  with  the  soil  had  not  even  a repre- 
sentative in  the  assembly,  which  merely  discussed 
to  whom  they  should  belong.  Every  one  sought 
after  this  right : the  shopkeepers  laid  claim  to  it, 
and  also  the  clergy,  and  even  the  Cossacks, 
jealous  of  reclaiming  their  privileges.  This  re- 
luctance to  admit  her  humanitarian  ideas  vexed 
Catherine.  Some  notes  written  at  this  period 
give  us  a curious  glimpse  of  her  impressions : 
‘ If  it  is  not  possible  to  admit  the  personality  of  a 
serf,  he  is  not  a man.  Call  him  an  animal,  and 
we  shall  win  the  respect  of  the  whole  world.  . . . 
The  law  of  serfdom  rests  on  an  honest  principle 
established  for  animals  by  animals.’ 

But  the  deputies  of  the  commission  did  not 
read  these  notes,  and  probably  they  would  have 
made  no  difference  to  their  feelings.  On  all 
sides  Catherine  found  an  invincible  opposition. 
By  1766  she  had  already  proposed  to  the  Society 
of  Political  Economy,  founded  under  her  auspices, 
a question  concerning  the  right  of  the  labourer 
to  the  land  which  he  has  watered  with  his  sweat. 
A hundred  and  twenty  replies  were  sent,  in 
Russian,  French,  German,  and  Latin.”  It  was 
Bearde  de  I’Abbaye,  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Dijon,  who  won  the  prize  of  a thousand  ducats. 
But,  by  thirteen  voices  against  three,  the  society 
opposed  the  publication  of  his  work. 

Catherine  finally  persuaded  herself  that  the 
problem  was  for  the  present  insoluble  and 
dangerous  to  approach.  The  revolt  of  Pougat- 


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299 


chef  confirmed  her  in  this  idea.  In  the  course  of 
a conversation  which  she  had- at  this  time  with 
the  head  of  the  excise  office,  V.  Dahl,  she  ex- 
pressed the  fear  that  in  raising  the  question  there 
might  result  a revolution  like  that  in  America. 
She  had  evidently  very  vague  notions  as  to 
what  was  happening  at  this  moment  across  the 
ocean. 

I ‘ Who  knows,  however  ? ’ she  added  ; ‘ I have 
succeeded  in  so  many  other  things!’  In  1775, 
writing  to  her  Attorney-General,  Prince  Via- 
zemski,  she  insisted  again  on  the  necessity  of 
doing  something  for  the  unhappy  serfs,  without 
which  ‘ they  will  sooner  or  later  take  the  liberty 
that  we  refuse  them.’  Count  Bloudof  professes 
to  have  seen  in  the  Empress’s  hands,  in  1784, 
a projected  ukase  ruling  that  the  serfs  born  after 
1785  should  be  free.  This  ukase  never  saw  the 
light.  In  the  papers  of  the  Empress,  found  after 
her  death,  there  is  another  project  concerning  the 
organisation  of  freedmen,  notably  the  nine  hun- 
dred thousand  serfs  who  had  been  emancipated 
by  the  secularisation  of  the  ecclesiastical  estates. 
This  document  has  been  published  in  the  20th 
volume  of  the  Recueil  de  la  Soci^td  d Histoire 
(of  Russia).  The  numerous  corrections  on  the 
original,  written  throughout  in  Catherine’s  hand- 
writing, prove  that  she  worked  over  it  a long 
time.  She  only  arrived,  however,  at  the  some- 
what odd,  and  probably  impracticable,  idea  of 
an  application  of  municipal  institutions  to  the 
very  different  conditions  of  rural  life.  This  con- 
ception remained  equally  barren. 

There  were  many  reasons  why  it  should  be 
so.  In  fact,  the  elevation  of  Catherine  in  1762 


300  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

had  been  the  work  of  the  nobility,  or/  at  least 
of  the  upper  classes,  affd'TTot  "that  of  the  people. 
It  was  therefore  essential  that  the  niw  Czarina 
should  stand  by  this  element,  and  be,  in  the 
first  place,  sure  of  it.  Besides,  even  before  her 
accession  to  the  throne,  the  ‘ philosophical  mind  ’ 
of  Catherine,  and  her  liberalism,  did  not  prevent 
her  from  a certain  preference  for  the  old  families, 
as  we  see  plainly  in  her  memoirs.  In  course  of 
time  she  substituted  little  by  little  for  the  old 
aristocracy  of  the  Narychkines,  the  Saltykofs, 
the  Galitzines,  an  aristocracy  of  recent  creation, 
the  Orlofs,  the  Patiomkines.  But  this  was 
merely  an  exchange.  On  the  other  side,  it  is 
easy  to  see  how  a liberal  of  the  stamp  of 
Diderot  could  easily,  after  having  examined  the 
question  of  Prussian  serfdom  with  the  Princess 
Dachkof,  come  to  the  conclusion  that  a radical 
reform  on  this  point  would  be  premature.  The 
observations  of  the  Princess  sufficed  to  shake, 
in  the  mind  of  the  philosopher,  convictions 
formed  and  nourished  during  twenty  years. 
Probably  something  of  this  appeared  in  the 
conversations  that  Diderot  afterwards  had  with 
Catherine  herself.  And  ten  years  later,  the 
Comte  de  Segur,  having  doubtless  seen  the 
peasants  through  the  windows  of  the  imperial 
coach,  calmly  expressed  the  conviction  that  their 
lot  left  nothing  to  desire.  Catherine  was  bound 
to  end,  as  indeed  she  did,  by  becoming  per- 
suaded of  it  herself.  In  her  notes  on  the  book 
of  Radistchef,  an  avowed  and  inflexible  liberal, 
who,  in  1790,  thought  it  was  still  possible  to  act 
on  the  principles  of  philosophy,  and  paid  dear 
for  his  error,  the  Empress  goes  the  jength  of 


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301 


declaring’,  as  an  incontestable  'act,  that  there  is 
no  peasant  in  the  -world  better  treated  than  the 
Russian  peasant,  and  no  master  more  kind  and 
humane  than  a proprietor  of  serfs  in  Russia! 
To  know  the  real  truth  in  the  matter,  it  is  need- 
less to  go  very  deeply  into  the  examination  of 
the  facts,  facts  which  resemble  those  of  a martyro- 
logy.  As  an  example  of  the  humanity  shown 
by  the  Russian  lords  to  the  serfs  belonging  to 
them,  the  Comte  de  Segur  has  pointed  in  his 
memoirs  to  a certain  Countess  Saltykof.  It  is 
an  unfortunate  instance.  The  early  years  of 
the  reign  of  Catherine  were  filled  with  the  re- 
port of  the  trial  and  condemnation  of  a Countess 
Daria  Saltykof,  accused  of  having  put  to  death, 
by  means  of  refined  tortures,  a hundred  and 
thirty-eight  of  her  serfs  of  both  sexes.  Seventy- 
five  victims,  one  of  them  a girl  of  fifteen,  were 
proved  with  certainty  by  the  inquiry.  And  yet, 
despite  the  outcry  of  popular  indignation,  which 
has  made  the  name  of  the  Saltytchiha  a fearful 
memory,  Catherine  dared  not  do  complete  justice. 
The  more  or  less  voluntary  accomplices  of  the 
horrible  woman,  the  pope  who  presided  at  thfe 
burial  of  the  victims,  and  the  valet  who  flogged 
them,  received  the  knout  in  one  of  the  squares 
of  Moscow ; the  Countess  Saltykof  escaped  with 
penal  servitude  for  life.  Even  this,  however, 
denoted  a progress  ; under  the  reign  of  Elizabeth, 
under  that  of  Peter  III.,  these  very  facts,  uni- 
versally known,  remained  unpunished.  The 
knout  was  brought  into  play  merely  upon  those 
who  had  denounced  these  abominable  crimes  ! 

The  case  of  the  Saltytchiha  was  exceptional ; 
the  rule,  however,  was  cruel  enough.  The  law 


302  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

appointed  no  limit  to  the  right  of  proprietors, 
in  regard  to  the  corporal  chastisement  of  their 
serfs.  It  authorised  them  to  send  them  to 
Siberia.  It  was  a means  of  peopling  the  vast 
solitudes  of  the  land  of  exile.  Catherine  added 
the  power  of  completing  the  exile  by  hard 
labour.  For  the  rest,  the  law  was  dumb,  as 
in  the  past.  And  the  jurisprudence  varied. 
In  1762  the  senate  sentenced  to  transportation 
a proprietor  who  had  flogged  a peasant  to  death. 
But  in  1761  an  identical  act  was  punished  merely 
by  religious  penance.  A curious  document  has 
come  down  to  us,  a list  of  punishments  inflicted, 
in  the  year  1751  and  onward,  on  the  estates  of 
Count  P.  Roumiantsof.  It  is  distressing  to  read  ; 
a very  nightmare.  For  entering  his  masters’ 
room  while  they  were  asleep,  and  thus  disturbing 
their  sleep,  a servant  is  flogged  and  condemned 
to  the  loss  of  his  name  : he  is  to  be  called  only 
by  an  insulting  nickname,  any  one  infringing  this 
order  to  suffer  five  thousand  blows  of  the  stick, 
without  mercy.  Five  thousand  blows  of  the 
stick  are,  however,  far  from  constituting  a ma.xi- 
mum.  A sort* of  criminal  code,  in  use  on  the 
same  estates,  includes  much  severer  chastise- 
ments. It  is  further  provided  that  the  applica- 
tion of  these  penalties  is  not  to  cause  too  much 
inconvenience  to  the  proprietor,  by  depriving 
him  too  long  of  the  labour  of  the  beaten  servants. 
It  is  ruled  that  a man  who  has  received  seven- 
teen thousand  (.y/V)  blows  of  the  stick,  or  a 
hundred  blows  of  the  knout — the  two  are  con- 
sidered equivalent — is  not  to  remain  in  bed  more 
than  a week.  If  he  is  longer  in  rising  and  re- 
turning to  work,  he  will  be  deprived  of  food. 


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303 


This  code  was  in  force  during  the  reign  of 
Catherine.  It  corresponds  pretty  well  with  the 
general  practice.  In  fact,  after  all  her  contra- 
dictory tentatives,  Catherine  took  the  initiative 
in  this  direction  only  in  two  cases,  both  of  them  a 
distinct  aggravation  of  the  existing  riginie.  I n re- 
gard to  the  treatment  of  the  serfs  by  their  masters, 
by  suppressing  the  right  of  direct  appeal  to  the 
sovereign,  she  suppressed  the  sole  corrective, 
indeed  a very  insufficient  one,  which  might,  in  a 
certain  measure,  have  attenuated  these  monstrous 
abuses.  Those  who  had  complaints  were  sent  to 
their  proprietors,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  butchers 
themselves ; and  there  the  lash  was  applied.  In 
1765  a ukase  of  the  senate  substituted  for  the 
penalty  of  the  lash  that  of  the  knout  and  hard 
labour.  In  1779  a French  painter  of  the  name  of 
Velly,  employed  to  paint  the  portrait  of  the 
Empress,  was  near  making  the  acquaintance  of 
this  new  legislation,  having  taken  advantage  of  a 
sitting  to  present  a petition  to  her  Majesty.  A 
diplomatic  intervention  was  required  to  rescue 
him  from  the  consequences  of  his  false  step.  In 
regard  to  the  law  of  serfdom  itself,  the  great  work 
of  Catherine’s  reign  was  the  introduction  of  the 
Russian  common  law  in  the  ancient  Polish  pro- 
vinces of  Lesser  Russia,  that  is  to  say,  the  trans- 
formation of  the  free  peasants  into  serfs  belonging 
with  the  soil. 

In  1774,  in  talking  with  Diderot,  who  spoke 
with  some  disgust  of  the  dirtiness  that  he  had 
noticed  in  the  peasants  round  St.  Petersburg,  the 
Empress  demanded : ‘ Why  should  they  look 
after  a body  which  is  not  their  own  ? ’ This 
bitter  word,  if  it  was  really  said,  sums  up  a state 


304  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

of  things  with  which  she  had  finally  come  to 
reconcile  her  humanitarian  aspiration. 

In  1789,  in  a series  of  advertisements  in  the 
Gazette  de  St.-Pdtersbourg  (No.  36),  side  by  side 
with  the  offer  of  a Holstein  stallion  for  sale,  we  find 
that  of  some  copies  of  the  Instruction  pour  la  Com- 
mission Legislative,  and  lower  down  these  lines — 
‘ Any  one  wishing  to  buy  an  entire  family,  or 
a young  man  and  a girl  separately,  may  inquire 
at  the  silk-washer’s,  opposite  the  church  of  Kasan. 
The  young  man,  named  Ivan,  is  twenty-one  years 
of  age ; he  is  healthy,  robust,  and  can  curl  a 
lady’s  hair.  The  girl,  well-made  and  healthy, 
named  Marfa,  aged  fifteen,  can  do  sewing  and 
embroidery.  They  can  be  examined,  and  are  to 
be  had  at  a reasonable  price.’ 

This  sums  up  what  Catherine  left  to  her  suc- 
cessor by  way  of  result,  in  regard  to  her  work  as 
legislator. 

‘As  she  is  ambitious  of  all  sorts  of  fame,’  wrote 
the  Comte  de  Segur  in  1 786,  ‘ she  wishes  to  lay 
claim,  during  the  peace,  to  that  of  legislator;  but 
her  subjects  have  put  more  obstacles  in  her  way 
than  her  enemies,  . . . and  she  has  been  forced 
to  acknowledge  that  it  is  unfortunately  easier  to 
make  great  conquests  than  good  laws.’ 

At  the  same  time,  sending  a memorandum  on 
the  general  state  of  the  legislation  in  Russia,  the 
work  of  his  brother,  M.  d’Aguesseau,  he  added 
the  following  reflections  : — 

‘ The  result  of  his  work  will  be  one  more  proof 
of  this  truth,  that  in  a land  of  slaves  there  can  be 
neither  good  laws  nor  good  morals,  that  every- 
thing becomes  corrupt  before  being  civilised,  that 
there  is  an  inevitable  lack  of  light  and  help, 


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305 


and  that  all  things  betray  the  irrationality  of 
despotism,  even  the  very  measures  that  are  in- 
tended to  restrain  and  modify  it.’ 

At  the  top  of  his  memorandum  D’Aguesseau 
had  put  this  line  of  Du  Bellay ; ‘ Plus  je  vois 
I’etranger,  plus  j’aime  ma  patrie.’ 

Ill 

In  regard  to  the  administration  of  justice, 
Catherine’s  reign  is  distinguished  by  several 
important  reforms,  whose  merit,  however,  has 
been  very  variously  appreciated.  Mercier  de  la 
Riviere  expressed  great  enthusiasm  in  regard  to 
an  organisatiQn.,jal.4)rovincial  tribunals,  put^  in 
force  after  the  peace  with  Turkey  in  1774.  In 
the  memoirs  of  a contemporary  (Vinski),  perhaps 
a better  judge,  these  tribunals  are  referred  to 
with  not  nearly  so  much  praise.  The  reform  has 
merely  put  32,0  judges  where  there  had  formerly 
been  50,  that  is  to  say,  in  a government  divided, 
according  to  the  new  regulations,  into  four  districts 
with  80  judges  each.  ‘ The  most  obvious  result  of 
this  benefit  to  the  poor  farmer  is  that  instead  of 
three  sheep  he  must  now  bring  fifteen  a year  to 
the  town,’  in  order  to  keep  in  well  with  justice. 
All  that,  adds  Vinski,  may  be  good  to  dazzle 
strangers,  and  make  them  admire  the  Semiramis 
of  the  North;  for  us  Russians  ‘it  is  a mere 
puppet-play.’ 

Catherine  also  did  her  best  to  quicken  the 
march  of  justice,  always  desperately  slow.  In 
1 769  a tradesman  of  Moscow,  Popof,  having  been 
driven  by  the  exasperating  intricacies  of  procedure 
into  crying  aloud  in  open  court  that  there  was  no 


3o6  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

justice  in  Russia  under  the  reign  of  Catherine  II., 
the  Empress  had  these  audacious  words  erased 
from  the  minutes  of  proceedings,  but  she  com- 
manded, at  the  same  time,  that  the  affairs  of  Popof 
should  be  settled  with  the  greatest  despatch, 

‘ so  that  he  might  see  that  there  was  justice  in 
Russia.’ 

The  sovereign’s  zeal  was  praiseworthy  ; it  pro- 
duced, as  a rule,  but  little  effect.  The  machine 
was  too  cumbersome  for  any  one  hand,  even  as 
energetic  as  hers,  to  regulate  the  heavy  wheels. 
In  1785  some  French  shipowners  were  still 
awaiting  at  St.  Petersburg  the  settlement  of 
certain  indemnities  due  to  them  for  the  losses 
they  had  endured  in  the  ilrst  Turkish  war.  The 
Comte  de  Segur,  who  had  exerted  himself  on 
their  behalf,  wrote  that  he  could  obtain  no  more 
than  a postponement  from  day  to  day  instead  of 
from  week  to  week.  He  added — 

‘ As  for  the  actual  debts,  I will  certainly  do 
what  I can,  but  I guarantee  in  advance  that  it 
will  be  useless.  The  English  minister  and  I are 
convinced  by  sad  experience  that  it  is  impossible 
here  to  get  the  money  for  letters  of  credit  when 
the  debtor  refuses  to  pay.  The  laws  are  explicit, 
but  the  corruption  of  the  judges,  the  indolence 
of  the  tribunals,  custom  and  precedent,  are  always 
in  his  favour.  The  Empress  has  at  this  moment 
to  decide  the  case  of  the  Sieur  Prory  of  Lyon, 
and  the  debtor  says  openly  that  if  it  is  possible  to 
make  him  lose  his  case,  it  will  be  at  least  quite 
impossible  to  make  him  pay.  This  inconceivable 
negligence  in  the  execution  of  the  ukases  relative 
to  debts  is  caused  by  the  general  disorder  of  the 
principal  people  here,  who  are  all  in  a state  of 


HOME  POLICY  307 

ruin,  and  who  protect  the  knavery  of  the  Russian 
merchants  who  prop  them  up.’ 

The  initiative  of  the  Empress,  and  her  supreme 
right  of  justice,  are  frequently  put  in  force,  and 
in  the  most  effectual  manner,  as  we  have  already 
intimated,  in  the  mitigation  of  the  excessive 
severities  to  which  the  ordinary  jurisdictions 
still  cling.  Catherine  boasted  that  she  had 
never  signed  a death-warrant.  She  nevertheless 
allowed  both  Pougatchef  and  Mirovitch  to  be 
brought  to  the  scaffold.  But  she  employed  a 
subterfuge  for  these  exceptional  cases  : declaring 
herself  directly  implicated  in  the  case  of  those 
outrages  which  were  to  be  punished,  she  would 
occasionally  renounce  her  prerogative  as  high 
justiciary,  in  order,  as  she  said,  that  she  might 
not  be  at  once  judge  and  party.  In  general,  she 
substituted  transportation  for  capital  punishment, 
and  even  for  the  lash.  She  nevertheless  allowed 
the  knout  to  be  sometimes  used,  even  as  a means 
of  coercion,  in  order  to  obtain  the  confession  of 
the  accused.  It  must  be  understood  what  this 
kind  of  torture  was.  The  knout  was  a whip  with 
a leather  thong  prepared  in  such  a manner  that 
it  possessed  at  once  the  elasticity  of  gutta-percha 
and  the  hardness  of  steel.  Wielded  by  an  execu- 
tioner, who  took  a spring  to  strike  with  greater 
force,  the  thong  cut  into  the  flesh  to  the  very 
bone,  and  left  at  every  blow  a deep  furrow.  A 
hundred  blows  were  considered  the  limit,  beyond 
which  the  resistance,  that  is  to  say  the  life,  of  the 
patient,  even  if  exceptionally  vigorous,  could  not 
go.  In  general,  the  ‘subjects  ’ lost  consciousness 
at  the  tenth  or  fifteenth  blow.  To  continue,  was 
soon  to  flog  a dead  body.  The  skill  of  the 


3o8  CATHERINE  H.  OF  RUSSIA 

torturer  consisted  in  taking  aim,  so  as  to  Jengthen 
out  the  bloody  slashes  on  the  patient’s  back,  one 
by  the  side  of  another,  without  taking  away  an 
inch  of  flesh.  At  the  moment  of  striking,  the 
zaplietchnik  (so  called  because  he  put  the  whip- 
hand  behind  his  shoulder  to  give  more  force  to 
the  blow)  cried  to  the  patient : Bieriegis  ! ( Look 
out ! or,  literally,  get  aside)  as  a last  touch 
of  irony.  In  the  torture-chambers  the  knout 
was  commonly  combined  with  the  strappado ; the 
patient  was  flogged  after  having  been  suspended 
in  the  air  by  the  arms,  which  had  been  pinioned 
behind  the  back,  so  as  to  put  the  shoulders  out 
of  joint,  and  cause  an  intolerable  pain. 

We  know  that  Catherine  was  resolutely  op- 
posed to  the  u,§.e..of  torture.  Nevertheless,  in  the 
coursE'Sf  atrial  which  lasted  from  1765  to  1774, 
in  connection  with  some  fires,  the  torture  was 
applied  three  times  to  the  accused. 

A legend,  of  which  we  cannot  verify  the  source, 
shows  the  sovereign,  in  the  part  of  high  justiciary, 
brought  into  contact  with  what  is  called  to-day 
‘ un  crime  passionnel.’  The  case  is  very  compli- 
cated. \A  young  peasant,  the  child  of  rich  parents, 
is  in  love  with  a poor  young  man.  Surprised  by 
the  father,  she  hides  her  lover  under  the  mattress 
of  the  common  bed ; promiscuity  in  sleeping  ac- 
commodation being  then  general  in  Russia,  even 
among  well-to-do  people  of  this  class.  The  father 
stretches  himself  on  the  bed,  and  the  unlucky 
man  is  stifled.  A neighbour  comes  in.  On 
hearing  what  has  happened,  he  takes  the  corpse 
and  throws  it  into  the  sea.  But  in  return  he 
forces  the  girl  to  become  his  mistress.  She  has 
a child,  whom  he  also  drowns.  Then  he  becomes 


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in  want  of  money,  and  demands  it  from  the  girl, 
who,  in  order  to  satisfy  him,  steals  from  her 
father.  Finally,  he  makes  her  go  with  him  to 
the  tavern,  so  that  he  may  parade  his  conquest. 
She  goes,  but,  on  coming  out  of  the  tavern,  she 
sets  it  on  fire.  It  burns,  with  all  who  are  in  it. 
She  is  arrested,  and  convicted  of  theft,  infanticide, 
and  incendiarism.  The  tribunals  condemn  her. 
Catherine  sets  her  free,  restricting  her  punish- 
ment to  a religious  penance. 


IV 

It  is  in  the  domain  of  administration,  properly 
so  called,  that  Catherine,  from  one  end  to  the 
other  of  her  reign,  showed  the  most  sustained,;^ 
and,  to  a certain  point,  the  most  fruitful  activity. 
She  concerned  herself  with  everything.  We 
have  a very  voluminous  personal  work  of  hers  on 
the  establishment-  of  manufaetures.  On  the  other 
hand,  she  takes  it  into  her  head,  in  1 783,  to 
reform  the  tpilo.tte  of  the  lords  and  ladies  of  her 
court,  in  order  to  render  it  less  costly  : this 
reform  is  not  at  all  pleasing  to  the  manufacturers. 
Elizabeth,  we  are  told  by  Count  Galovkine,  in 
his  memoirs,  forced  the  beautiful  Narychkine  to 
wear  her  dresses  without  a hoop.  In  order  that 
the  charms  of  her  figure  did  not  too  much  outdo 
her  own  beauty.  For  less  personal  reasons 
Catherine  had  recourse  to  sumptuary  laws,  and 
the  Grand  Duchess  Paul,  on  returning  from 
Paris,  is  obliged  to  send  back,  without  even  un- 
packing them,  the  marvels  that  the  famous 
Mademoiselle  Bertin  had  put  in  her  boxes. 
In  general,-  it  must  be  said,  notwithstanding 


310  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

energy  and  good  intentions,  the  initiative  of 
the  sovereign  is  shown  in  this  direction,  as 
in  others,  without  either  consistency  or  any 
particular  knowledge  of  things,  fragmentary, 
capricious,  and  at  the  beck  of  chance. 

‘There  are  too  many  undertakings  in  this 
^ empire,’  writes  the  Comte  de  Segur,  in  1787; 
‘ the  disorder  that  follows  on  the  heels  of  pre- 
cipitation spoils  the  greater  part  of  the  best  ideas. 
At  the  same  time,  there  is  an  attempt  to  form 
a tiers  itat,  attract  foreign  commerce,  establish 
manufactures  of  all  kinds,  extend  agriculture, 
increase  the  paper  currency,  raise  the  rate  of 
exchange,  build  in  towns,  pebple^deserts,  cover 
the  Black  Sea  with  a new  fleet,  conquer  a neigh- 
bouring country,  bind  down  another,  and  extend 
the  influence  of  Russia  over  all  Europe.  Certainly 
this  is  undertaking  a great  deal.’ 

Catherine,  too,  had  to  fight  with  enormous 
difficulties.  During  the  first  year  of  her  reign 
she  discovered  that  in  the  Senate,  where  the 
most  complex  questions  regarding  the  administra- 
tion of  the  country  were  being  debated,  there  was 
no  map  indicating  the  position  of  the  governmental 
centres,  whose  affairs  were  settled  without  the 
least  notion  whether  they  were  on  the  Black  Sea 
or  the  White  Sea.  She  sent  a messenger  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  with  five  roubles  to  bring 
one.  She  worked  energetically  at  the  repression 
of  the  many  and  extravagant  abuses  which  had 
crept  into  the  procedure  of  all  the  branches  of 
local  government,  and  Russia  is  indebted  to  her 
/ for  much  serious«~p£Qgxess  in  this  respect ; yet 
there  too  the  task  proved  -tn  be  h&frmA  her 
strength.  One  day  she  sent  an  officer  of  her 


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311 


guard,  Moltchanof,  to  Moscow,  to  give  a reversion 
of  judgment,  and  clear  up  certain  official  corrup- 
tions which  had  been  brought  to  her^  notice. 
Moltchanof  required  a passport  for  the  journey. 
Russia  has  always  been  the  land  of  passports. 
He  lost  three  days  in  going  about  from  office  to 
office  in  order  to  obtain  one.  Meanwhile  the 
delinquents,  duly  forewarned,  had  had  time  to 
put  everything  in  order.  A vast  and  shameless 
corruption  spreads  from  top  to  bottom  of  the 
ladder  of  government.  In  1770,  during  the 
plague  of  Moscow,  the  police  officers  arranged 
with  the  health  officers  to  levy  contributions  on  the 
rich  bourgeois  of  the  city.  They  were  denounced 
as  suspects ; the  doctor,  under  pretence  of  ex- 
amining them,  smeared  nitrate  of  silver  over  their 
hands ; black  spots  soon  appeared,  the  supposed 
plague-stricken  people  were  put  in  quarantine  : if 
they  did  not  buy  themselves  out,  their  houses 
were  pillaged.  At  St.  Petersburg  even,  a trust- 
worthy witness,  the  inspector  of  police,  Longpre, 
sent  over  from  Paris  in  1783,  on  a judicial 
mission,  points  out  the  most  shocking  disorders  : 
streets  unguarded,  fires  destroying,  at  every 
instant,  whole  quarters  of  the  town,  etc.  About 
the  same  time,  the  English  envoy,  Harris, 
mentions  the  case  of  one  of  his  compatriots  who, 
having  been  robbed  of  a large  sum  of  money, 
tries  in  vain  to  obtain  redress  from  the  under- 
officers of  police,  and  ends  by  going  to  the 
lieutenant  of  police  in  person,  whom  he  finds  at 
ten  o’clock  in  the  morning  employed  in  working 
out  combinations  with  a packet  of  dirty  cards. 

'|\  One  of  the  most  durable,  beneficial,  and 
’ best  managed  works  of  Catherine  was  the 


312  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Foundlinp-  Asvhim.  erected  in  1 763.  Privileges 
and  favours,  such  as  no  benevolent  institution 
ever  received  before,  were  granted  to  this  estab- 
lishment : exemption  from  taxes  and  statute- 
labour,  powers  of  legal  self-government,  personal 
liberty  of  inmates,  and  of  those  employed  in  their 
care,  monopoly  of  the  lottery,  share  in  benefits  at 
the  theatre,  etc.  A revenue  of  50,000  roubles 
was  assigned  by  the  Empress  for  the  mainten- 
ance of  the  Asylum,  while  a philanthropist. 
Procope  Demidof,  erected  the  huge  buildings  at 
his  cost.  Betzky,  appointed  director,  put  into  it 
his  whole  fortune  (about  two  millions  of  francs) 
and  twenty  years  of  assiduous  toil.  A work 
published  by  him  in  1775,  under  the  title,  Plans 
et  Statuts  des  diffdrents  Etablissements  ordonn^s 
par  r Impdratrice  Catherine  pour  1' Education  de 
la  Jeunesse,  gives  a good  idea  of  the  greatness  of 
the  scheme.  Diderot,  who  superintended  its 
translation  and  publication  at  the  Hague,  added 
a note  in  which  we  find  these  lines  : — 

‘ When  time  and  the  steadfastness  of  this  great 
sovereign  shall  have  brought  (these  establish- 
ments) to  the  point  of  perfection  of  which  they 
are  all  susceptible,  and  which  some  have  reached, 
people  will  go  to  Russia  for  the  purpose  of  seeing 
them,  as  people  formerly  went  to  Egypt,  Lace- 
demon,  and  Crete,  but  with  a curiosity  which 
will,  I venture  to  think,  be  better  founded  and 
better  rewarded.’ 

By  this  time  people  are,  indeed,  beginning  to 
visit  Russia.  It  is  true  that  it  is  not  precisely 
with  the  object  that  Diderot  prophesied.  But 
perhaps  we  must  still  wait  for  the  accomplishment 
of  his  prophecy. 


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313 


, V 

One  side'  of  Catherine’s  administration  presents 
itself  beforte  us  under  the  aspect  of  a problem 
defying  all  solution  : this  is  her  financial  policy. 
What  the  fi  nances  of  Russia  were  at  her  acces- 
sion  she  has ; said  in  a private  journal,  of  which, 
unfortunatel}^  a fragment  only  has  been  pre- 
served : — 

‘ I found  the  army  stationed  in  Prussia  without 
pay  for  the  past  eight  months;  in  the  Treasury 
17  millions  of  roubles  of  unpaid  bonds;  a mone- 
tary circulation  of  100  millions  of  roubles,  of 
which  40  millions  were  taken  in  kind  abroad  ; 
almost  all  the  branches  of  commerce  monopo- 
lised by  private  individuals ; the  excise  revenue 
farmed  out  for  two  millions ; a loan  of  two 
millions  attempted  in  Holland  by  the  Empress 
Elizabeth,  but  without  success  ; no  credit  and  no 
confidence  abroad ; at  home,  the  peasants  in 
revolt  everywhere,  and,  in  certain  districts,  the 
proprietors  themselves  ready  to  imitate  their 
example,’ 

This  was  the  result  of  the  rdgime  that  Peter  I. 
had  found  in  force,  and  had  not  attempted  to 
modify,  which  came  frcm  a conglomeration  of 
ideas  and  traditions,  the  direct  heritage  of  the 
Tartar  domination,  and  of  the  Eastern  habit 
which  was  summed  up,  not  so  much  in  the 
squandering,  as  in  the  pillage  of  all  the  econo- 
mical resources  of  the  country,  and  which  we 
have  thus  characterised,  a few  years  since,  in  a 
study  of  the  financial  aspect  of  the  great  empire — 

‘ Everything  that  could  be  taxed  was  taxed, 
even  to  the  long  beards  of  the  moujiki,  who 


3»4 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSJ ^ 


found  themselves  obliged  to  pay  toll  at  the  gates 
of  the  towns!  To  bring  in  the  taxe-s  those  in 
power  resorted  to  fire  and  steel,  to  military 
warrants,  and  to  ingenuities  of  torture  recom- 
mended by  the  experience  of  cenfjries.  The 
treasury  still  remaining  empty,  tlje  revenues 
were  farmed  out,  sold,  and  put  up,  for  lottery. 
Finally,  in  despair,  the  whole  was  ;taken  for  the 
part,  the  object  taxed  for  the  tax, 'and  in  1729 
there  was  established  an  “ office  of  confiscated 
goods.’” 

What  does  Catherine  do  wit’h  this  state  of 
things  ? She  begins  by  tryin^i  to  palliate  it. 
She  puts  the  resources  of  her  pr  ivate  purse  at  the 
disposition  of  the  state.  Th^n  endeavours 
to  amend  the  organisation  of  the  public  treasury. 
The  capital  vice  of  this  organisation  is  the  lack 
oUinity : the  finances  of  tl  je  empire  are  in  the 
hands  of  different  institutjons,  independent  one 
» of  another,  each  acting  i ^ a different  direction, 
each  seeing  which  can  ir,ake  the  most  out  of  the 
other.  Catherine  atte^^upts  a unification  and  a 
centjalrSatton  of  these  services.  IsoFated  reforms, 
the  suppression  of  g'lonopolies  and  indivisible 
privileges  in  a certain  number  of  commercial 
societies,  the  caneeffmg  of  the  farming  out  of  the 
excises,  furnish  a supp^eruent  of  receipts.  But 
the  sum-total  of  the  rev^eaue  remains  very  low ; 
it  is  not  more  than  17  m iiPons  of  roubles  (about 
85  millions  of  francs).  Fjow  the  question  is  how 
to  make  it  even  with  the,  new  demands  of  the 
imperial  policy,  which  woui’d  be  on  a level  with 
that  of  the  great  Europeian  powers,  that  of 
France,  which  has  a budgt^t  of  five  hundred 
millions  of  francs,  of  England’,  which  has  one  of 


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315 


twelve  million  pounds.  More  than  this,  Cathe- 
rine desires  to  eclipse  her  rivals  in— the  West. 
By  her  ifTnumerable  enTerprises  at  home,  by  the 
pageantry  of  her  court,  by  her  largesses  to  a 
whole  crowd  of  adulators,  with  which  Europe  is 
soon  filled,  by  the  gold  which  she  showers  on  her 
favourites,  she  desires  to  efface  the  memory  of 
the  great  king,  the  Roi  Soleil,  whose  dazzling 
memory  haunts  her  imagination. 

And  she  well-nigh  succeeds ! The  first  Turkish 
war  costs  47^^  millions  of  roubles.  And,  after  a 
few  years’  respite,  she  follows  up  again  her  great 
enterprises  abroad  with  the  annexation  of  the 
Crimea,  the  second  Turkish  war,  the  war  with 
Sweden,  the  conquest  of  Poland,  the  expedition 
to  Tersia,  etc.  At  home  the  outlay  is  not  less. 
Favouritism  costs  in  thirty-four  years  about  50 
millions  of  roubles.  The  maintenance  of  the 
court,  with  its  disorder  and  extravagance,  re- 
quires enormous  sums.  From  1762  to  1768  the 
keeping  up  of  the  palace  of  Peterhof  alone  is 
debited  to  the  state  in  180,000  roubles  (900,000 
francs),  and  when  the  Empress  arrives  there  in 
June  1768  she  finds  everything  in  absolute  dila- 
pidation. The  money  has  all  gone  elsewhere.  In 
1796  it  is  with  a budget  of  about  80  millions  of 
roubles  that  Catherine  has  to  meet  her  liabilities. 

And  meet  them  she  does.  From  one  end  of 
her  reign  to  the  other  she  supplies  for  all.  She 
pays  for  everybody  and  for  everything : the 
apprenticeship  of  Alexis  Orlof  on  the  fleet  in 
the  Archipelago,  the  follies  of  Patiomkine,  and 
the  enthusiasm  of  Voltaire.  She  lets  the  gold 
slip  through  her  fingers,  and  she  is  never  in  want, 
or  never  seems  to  be  in  want.  How  ? by  what 


3i6  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA  •' 

3 

miracle  ? The  explanation  is  easy  to  give ; but,  ; 
to  understand  that  explanation,  it  is  needful  to  ; 
penetrate  a secret,  of  which  Catherine  had  (and 
this  was  her  merit  and  her  great  source  of 
strength),  if  not  the  profound  knowledge,  at  all 
events  the  intuition  of  genius.  In  all  their 
struggles  with  the  finances  of  the  empire,  it  is 
strange  that  the  governments  of  the  empire  never 
thought,  at  one  time  or  another,  of  an  expedient 
which,  disastrous  as  its  practice  had  been  in  the 
West,  still  tempted  the  fancy.  On  arriving  at 
power  Peter  III.  did,  in  fact,  decree  the  founda- 
tion of  a bank,  and  the  issue  of  bank-notes  for 
the  sum  of  5 millions  of  roubles.  The  idea  of 
the  Emperor  did  not  at  first  attract  the  Empress. 

The  paper  currency,  whose  workings  she  did  not  ' 
exactly  understand,  did  not  seem  of  much  use.  j 

But,  in  1769,  the  exigencies  of  the  Turkish  war  | 

overcame  her  repugnances  and  scruples,  and,  \ 
from  that  time,  the  instrument  of  her  financial  | 
power,  the  magic  power  which,  from  I769_tg  I 
1796,  sustained  the  fortune  and  the  fame  of  the 
great  sovereign,  fed  the  colossal  and  ever-renewed  j 
effort  of  her  reign,  and  made  up  for  all  her 
prodigalities,  was  born.  In  twenty-seven  years 
Catherine  issued  137,700,000  roubles^-worth  of  J 
paper  money.  Adding  47,739,130  roubles  on  ^ 

the^one  part,  and  82,457,426  roubles  on  the  ; 

other,  for  the  proceeds  of  home  or  foreign  loans  * 

contracted  at  the  same  period,  we  arrive  at  a \ 

total  of  264,665,556  roubles,  or  more  than  a 
milliard  of  francs,  raised  on  the  public  credit. 
That  is  how  Catherine  paid. 


HOME  POLICY 


VI 

There  is  not  much  to  be  said  respecting  the 
army  in  the  reign  of  Catherine.  Her  reign  wab  ^ 
warlike ; it  countenanced  neither  militarism  nor 
the  military  spirit.  The  military  spirit  lives  on 
discipline,  respect  for  the  powers  that  be,  and 
also  ambition.  In  making  Alexis  Orlof  an  admiral 
and  Patiomkine  a general  in  chief,  Catherine  by 
no  means  cultivated  these  sentiments.  In  1772, 
at  the  congress  of  Fokchany,  Gregory  Orlof,  who 
had  never  seen  a battlefield,  assumed  the  tone  of 
a superior  in  speaking  to  Roumiantsof,  the  con- 
queror of  Kagoul,  and  was  near  taking  the  com- 
mand in  partnership  with  him.  But  Roumiantsof 
only  changed  rivals.  A few  years  later,  he  had 
to  retire  before  a new  favourite.  When  it  was 
no  longer  commanded  by  Roumiantsof,  and  not 
yet  by  Souvarof,  the  army  was  in  general  very  ill 
commanded.  But  the  soldier  was  then  as  he  has 
since  been,  as  he  recently  was  under  the  walls  of 
Plewna,  and  he  had  before  him  only  the  Turks, 
who  were  put  hors  de  combat,  so  to  speak,  before 
the  combat  began,  by  the  European  tactics ; or 
else  the  Poles,  who,  like  the  Turks,  were,  in  point 
of  view  of  the  art  of  war,  two  centuries  behind 
the  time.  Catherine  was  careful  to  avoid  fighting 
with  the  diS:iplined  troops  of  the  West.  When 
she  went  against  the  Swedes,  who  were  never- 
theless a poor  adversary  for  Russia,  she  had 
cause  to  repent  of  it.  Besides,  she  conquered 
cheaply,  as  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia  said.  Doubt- 
less, however,  her  indomjtable  energy  ^niL-her 
audacity  contributed  to  brin^victory  to  her  side. 


3i8 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


Competent  judges  have  accused  her  of  having, 
in  all  that  concerns  the  military  administration, 
spoilt  the  work  of  Peter  the  Great.  In  1763  she 
sanctioned  a reform  which  put  the  regiments 
entirely  into  the  hands  of  their  colonels.  Peter 
had  confided  the  cares  of  administration  to  in- 
spectors, employed  by  a general  commissariat, 
though  a commissariat  very  much  centralised. 
The  abandonment  of  this  organisation  gave  rise 
to  numerous  abuses.  According  to  the  Comte 
de  Segur,  the  Russian  army  amounted,  in  1 785, 
to  a fighting  force  of  about  five^^undred  and 
thirty  thousand  men,  of  whom  two  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  were  the  regular  troops.  Segur 
observed,  nevertheless,  that  the  disorder  which 
reigned  in  the  War  Office  made  it  impossible  to 
get  at  the  exact  figures,  and  that  the  official 
numeration  was  a little  dubious.^  He  added : 
‘ Many  colonels  have  confessed  td  me  that  they 
made  from  3000  to  4000  roubles  annually  out  of 
their  infantry  regiments,  and  that  those  of  cavalry 
brought  in  18,000  to  their  chiefs.’  The  Comte 
V de  Vergennes  wrote  at  the  same  time:  ‘The 
Russian  fleets  were  far  from  gaining  fame  by 
leaving  the  Baltic.  The  one  which  was  last 
seen  in  the  Mediterranean  has  not  left  a good 
reputation.  Leghorn  complains  particularly  of  the 
/officers,  who  have  bought  much  and  paid  foi:|Nttle.’ 
/ / To  sum  up,  Catherine  attempted  and  began 
/many  things  ; she  achieved  hardly  any.  It  was 
fin  her  nature  to  go  forward  without  looking  at 
I what  she'teffc-feehiad  her.  She  left  many  ruins. 

‘ Before  the  death  of  Catherine,’  some  one  has 
y said,  ‘ the  greater  part  of  the  monuments  of  her 
reign  were  already  in  debris' 


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3*9 


There  was  a demon  in  her  which  drove  her 
forward,  ever  forward,  beyond  the  present  hour 
and  the  result  already  attained,  without  leaving 
her  even  the  satisfaction  of  a moment’s  pause  to 
contemplate  the  finished  work.  This  demon  was 
perhaps  only  that  of  ambition,  and  of  an  ambition 
sometimes  poor  and  trivial.  When  she  had 
settled  the  plans  and  laid  the  foundations  of  an 
edifice,  she  had  a medal  struck,  and,  the  medal 
once  struck  and  put  away  in  her  cabinet,  she 
thought  no  more  of  what  was  to  be  built.  Thq 
famous  marble  church,  begun  in  1780,  was  still 
only  begun  twenty  years  after. 

But  perhaps  this  was  the  part  allotted  by  Pro- 
vidence to  the  Czarina,  and  was  it  not  hers  also  to 
carry  with  her  on  this  headlong  course  a people 
whom  Peter  I.  had  not  succeeded  in  shaking 
entirely  out  of  its  sleep  of  ages — a sleeping  giant 
under  a shroud  of  snow — and  who  needed  only  to 
be  drawn  out  of  this  torpor  in  order  to  follow  the 
natural  course,  a torrent  that  nothing  can  inter- 
cept, towards  a mysterious  destiny  ? And  perhaps 
also  Catherine  was  not  entirely  at  fault  when  she 
wrote  to  Grimm,  the  day  after  the  day  on  which 
was  unveiled  the  monument  which  she  had 
erected  to  the  great  Czar,  her  predecessor — 

‘ Peter  I.,  seen  in  the  open  air,  seemed  to  me 
to  libk  quite  brisk  as  well  as  imposing;  one 
would  have  said  he  was  pleased  with  the  work. 
For  some  time  I could  not  look  at  him  fixedly ; 
I felt  moved,  and  when  I looked  around  me  I 
saw  that  all  had  tears  in  their  eyes.  The  face 
was  turned  away  from  the  Black  Sea,  but  the 
pose  of  his  head  seemed  to  say  that  he  could  see 
well  enough  either  way.  He  was  too  far  away  to 


320 


CATHERINE  //.  OF  RUSSIA 


speak  to  me,  but  he  seemed  to  me  to  have  an  air 
of  satisfaction,  which  communicated  itself  to  me, 
and  encouraged  me  to/ try  to  do  yet  better  in  the 
future,  if  I can.’ 


CHAPTER  III 

FOREIGN  POLICY 
I 

The  famous  German  historian  Sybel  wrote  in 
1869:  ‘No  burning  question  arises  in  Germany 
an  our  days  without  our  finding  some  trace  of  the 
y^  Jpolicy  of  Catherine  IL’  This  observation  might 
e well  be  generalised  and  applied  to  the  greater 
part  of  Europe.  Very  ambitious,  very  feminine, 
sometimes  almost  childish,  the  foreign  policy  of 
Catherine  was  one  of  univepsal' expansion.  The 
opening  of  her  reign  seemed  nevertheless  to 
intimate  something  quite  different. 

On  coming  to  the  throne,  the  Empress  an- 
nounced herself  as  a peaceful  sovereign,  disposed 
to  remain  quietly  at  home  if  she  were  not  inter- 
fered with,  desirous,  in  consequence,  of  avoiding 
all  conflict  with  her  neighbours,  and  determined 
to  employ  all  her  activity  in  the  home  govern- 
ment of  an  empire  which  offered  a sufficient  field 
for  her  spirit  of  enterprise.  This  programme 
corresponded,  even  from  the  point  of  view  of 
international  relations,  with  an  ambition  which 
abdicated  none  of  its  rights,  but  which  was 
governed  by  the  most  generous  inspirations. 
Writing  to  Count  Kayserling,  her  ambassador  at 


FOREIGN  POLICY 


321 


Warsaw,  Catherine  wrote  : ‘ I tell  you,  in  a word, 
that  my  aim  is  to  be  joined  in  the  bonds  of  friend- 
ship with  all  the  powers,  in  armed  alliance,  so 
that  I may  always  be  able  to  range  myself  on  the 
side  of  the  oppressed,  and  in  this  way  become 
the  arbiter  of  Europe.’ 

She  was  not  as  yet,  it  is  evident,  thinking  of 
the  spoliation  of  Poland.  She  rejected  the  very 
idea  of  conquest.  Courland  itself  did  not  tempt 
her.  ‘ I have  people  enough  to  render  happy,’ 
she  said,  ‘ and  this  little  corner  of  the  earth  will 
add  nothing  to  my  comfort’  She  thought  to 
confirm  the  treaty  of  perpetual  peace  with  Turkey. 
She  reduced  the  fighting  force  of  her  army.  She 
was  in  no  haste  to  fill  the  vacancies  made  in  her 
arsenals  by  the  ruinous  wars  of  the  preceding 
reigns.  She  repeated  that  it  was  needful,  before 
all  things,  to  set  the  country  in  order  and  repair 
the  finances. 

How  did  she  come  to  abandon  so  soon  and  so 
entirely  this  initial  point  of  view?  We  can  cite 
in  this  respect  a most  valuable  piece  of  evidence. 
The  man  to  whom  we  owe  it  is  one  of  those  who 
are  the  honour  of  their  country,  and  the  frankness 
of  his  language  is  calculated  to  throw  light  on  this 
obscure  side  of  Catherine’s  history  ; it  seems  also 
to  indicate  that  certain  sentiments,  to-day  ignored 
or  discredited  in  Russia,  were  not  always  foreign 
to  noble  minds.  Some  years  after  the  death  of 
Catherine,  in  a letter  addressed  to  Alexander  I., 
who  had  just  assumed  the  throne.  Count  Simon 
Vorontsof  wrote  as  follows  : — 

‘The  late  Empress  desired  peace  and  desired 
it  to  last.  . . . Everything  was  calculated  to  con- 
firm it,  ...  It  is  Prussia  , , , that  induced  Count  \j 


322  CATHERINE  II.  Of  RUSSIA 

Panine  to  revoke  the  ameliorations  which  had 
been  introduced  into  the  constitution  of  Poland 
in  order  to  gain  possession  of  the  country  with 
more  facility.  It  is  Prussia  who  persuaded  this 
same  minister  to  inStst-that"all'  the  Polish  dissi- 
dents should  be  admitted  to  all  the  posts  of  state, 
which  was  impossible  without  employing  violence 
against  the  Poles.  It  was  employed,  and  it  was 
this  which  formed  the  confederations,  the  number 
of  which  was  carefully  concealed  from  the 
Empress.  Bishops  and  senators  were  arrested 
in  full  diet  and  exiled  to  Russia.  Our  troops 
entered  Poland,  ravaged  everything,  pursued  the 
confederates  into  the  Turkish  provinces,  and  this 
violation  of  territory  caused  the  Turks  to  declare 
war  against  us.  ...  It  is  from  the  time  of  this 
war  that  we  must  date  the  foreign  debts,  and  the 
creation  of  paper  money  at  home,  two  calamities 
which  are  the  misery  of  Russia.’ 

Thus  it  was  Prussia  which,  in  order  to  gain 
the  assistance  of  T^^ia  in  its  Polish  policy,  drew 
Catherine  into  a'Tareer  of  violent  and  violating 
enterprises  of  all  kinds  m which  she  found  herself 
caught  as  in  a wheel.  This  course,  nevertheless, 
was,  we  incline  to  believe,  inevitable  for  her  in 
one  way  or  another.  Quite  apart  from  Prussia, 
Catherine  had  from  the  first  too  lofty  a notion  of 
her  power  not  to  be  tempted,  one  day  or  another, 
to  make  use  of  it,  and  too  lofty  a conception  of 
the  part  she  had  to  play,  not  to  brush  aside  any 
sort  of  scruples.  In  October  1762,  the  court  of 
Denmark  having  proposed  to  her  to  renounce  the 
guardianship  of  her  son,  in  respect  of  the  Duchy 
of  Holstein,  she  replied  in  these  characteristic 
terms — 


FOREIGN  POLICY 


323 


* The  case  is  perhaps  unique  that  a sovereign 
empress  should  be  guardian  in  a fief  of  empire 
for  her  son,  but  it  is  stranger  still  that  a woman, 
who  has  five  hundred  thousand  men  ready  to  do 
battle  for  her  ward,  should  be  told  that  she  ought 
not  to  be  concerned  with  a Schvverdt  [sic)  which 
can  hardly  maintain  three  hundred  men.’ 

It  is  nevertheless  probable,  if  not  certain,  that 
in  entering  upon  the  course'which  was  to  lead 
her  so  far  from  her  first  projects  of  collected  and 
peaceful  labour,  Catherine  did  not  realise  whither 
she  was  going,  nor  that  the  current  was  bearing 
her  along,  that  her  first  successes  had  intoxicated 
her,  and  that  she  was  thus  hurried  forward,  in 
her  own  despite,  into  a state  of  war-fever,  which 
rose  at  times  almost  to  madness,  and  in  which 
she  lost  all  count  of  the  means  at  her  disposal, 
and  of  every  consideration  of  prudence,  or,  alas ! 
of  equity.  The  Marquis  de  Virac  wrote  to  the 
Comte  de  Vergennes  in  1782  : ‘ Here  they  snatch 
at  everything,  greedily  and  unthinkingly,  which 
seems  likely  to  add  a new  glory  to  the  reign  of 
Catherine  II.  They  do  not  trouble  to  count  the 
cost ; the  first  thing  is  to  be  moving.’ 

To  be  moving,  no  matter  how,  no  matter 
where,  to  make  a great  racket,  no  matter  at  what 
cost,  such,  in  effect,  seemed  to  be  the  constant 
concern  of  Catherine  from  the  time  of  the  first 
Turkish  war  onward.  Helped  by  her  ‘luck,’ 
she  reposed  on  the  belief  that  something  for  her 
greater  fame  and  the  greater  grandeur  of  her 
empire  would  come  out  of  everything.  ‘ The 
good  fortune  which  crowns  all  the  enterprises  of 
the  Russians,’  writes  the  Comte  de  Vergennes  in 
1 784,  ‘ wraps  them,  so  to  speak  in  a radiant 


324  CATHERINE  TI.  OF  RUSSIA 

atmosphere,  through  which  they  see  nothing.  ' 
As  for  political  system  or  general  idea  at  the  ] 
back  of  her  enterprises,  do  not  ask  the  Empress  ! 
for  anything  of  the  sort.  She  will  answer : 
‘Cirumstances,  conjunctures,  and  conjectures.’  As 
for  conciliating  these  enterprises  with  a higher 
law  of  morals,  of  humanity,  or  of  international 
right,  she  has  no  thought  of  such  a thing.  ‘It 
is  as  useless  to  speak  to  her  of  Puffendorf  or  of 
Grotius,’  writes  the  English  envoy  Macartney 
from  St.  Petersburg  in  1770,  ‘as  if  one  spoke 
of  Clarke  or  Tillotson  at  Constantinople.’  ■ 

Catherine,  moreover,  inaugurates,  in  the  conduct  | 

of  foreign  affairs,  a rule  of  pgj:^nnpl  ;n;*i*4»wFr, j 

which  itself  cannot  but  give  totHern  an  adven-  | 

turous  turn,  for  she  flings  herself  into  it  with  her  i 

nervous  and  excitable  woman’s  temperament.  j 

She  expends,  especially  at  the  outset,  an  extra-  j 

ordinary  activity.  She  dictates  herself  all  the  | 

diplomatic  correspondence.  She  soon  finds  out,  | 

it  is  true,  that  she  cannot  manage  it  all,  and  that  | 

the  service  suffers  by  it.  She  then  reserves  to  | 

herself  the  most  important  matters,  leaving  to  the  : 

minister,  that  is  to  sav:.»*tcr  Count  Panine,  the 
bulk  of  the  work.  She  writes  on  April  i,  1763,  I 
to  Count  Kayserling  : ‘In  future  I hope  secrecy  .g; 
will  be  better  kept,  for  I do  not  choose  to  take 
any  one  into  my  confidence  in  regard  to  what  is 
in  the  air.’  Her  predecessors  had  only^short 
extracts  communicated  to  them  from  the  de- 
spatches of  her  foreign  ambassadors.  She  insists 
on  seeing  the  originals  ; she  reads  and  annotates 
them.  These  annotations  are  curious.  On  the 
margin  of  a despatch  from  Prince  Galitzine,  her 
ambassador  at  Vienna,  informing  her  that  the 


FOREIGN  POLICY 


325 


courts  of  Vienna  and  of  Versailles  are  inciting  the 
Porte  to  meddle  in  the  affairs  of  Poland,  she 
writes  : ‘ He  does  not  keep  his  eyes  open,  for  he 
does  not  know  even  what  the  street  children 
know,  or  else  he  says  less  than  he  knows.’ 
Prince  Repnine,  writing  from  Warsaw,  that  in 
the  course  of  a conversation  with  the  Prussian 
ambassador,  Baron  Goltz,  the  latter  has  recog- 
nised that  the  orders  of  the  King,  his  master,  do 
not  seem  to  him  in  the  interests  of  his  subjects, 
though  they  are  perhaps  in  those  of  the  sove- 
reign, she  annotates  : * Is  there  then  auy  other 
glory  than  the  good  of  the  subject.  These  are 
oddities  beyond  my  pale.’  In  1780,  on  the  first 
visit  that  he  makes  to  the  sovereign,  Joseph  II. 
is  informed  of  this  method  of  work,  and  is  amazed 
at  it.  Up  to  the  time  of  this  meeting,  however, 
which  played  a decisive  part  in  the  history  of 
Catherine,  the  influence  of  Panine,  as  head  of 
the  department  of  foreign  affairs,  had  been  very 
great.  It  is  this  influence  which,  in  spite  of 
wind  and  tide,  in  spite  even  of  the  personal  re- 
pugnance of  the  Empress,  had  kept  her  policy 
in  touch  with  the  Prussian  alliance.  The  visit  of 
Joseph  brings  about  a sudden  change.  Catherine 
promptly  brushes  her  minister  aside  in  order  to 
form,  on  her  own  account,  the  new  alliance  which 
opens  new  horizons  before  her  on  the  side  of 
the  North  Sea.  And  soon  Panine  is  quite  out 
of  the  reckoning.  A mere  clerk,  obedient  in 
carrying  out  the  inspirations  of  the  imperial  mind, 
will  suffice.  One  is  soon  found,  excellent  for  the 
purpose,  Bezborodko.  .‘Properly  speaking,  the 
Empress  has  no  longer  a minister,’  writes  the 
Marquis  de  Verac  in  September  i78r. 


326 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


\ \ 
■J 


This  personal  policy,  superior  as  are  the 
qualities  of  mind  and  temper  of  which  Catherine 
gives  proof,  is  not  slow  to  subject  her  to  numer- 
ous failures.  There  are  infatu^iiflflS,i«£allowed  by 
/disenchantments  equally  arSitrary.  Fancy  has 
full  play,  and  the  woman  is  too  often  seen  in 
place  of  the  sovereign.  It  is  a woman,  and  an 
angry  woman,  who  from  the  4th  to  the  9th  of 
July  1796  draws  up  for  Count  Budberg,  Russian 
minister  at  Stockholm,  a communication  intended 
to  take  the  King  of  Sweden  to  task  for  thinking 
of  coming  to  St.  Petersburg  without  entering 
into  an  engagement  beforehand  to  marry  the 
grand-daughter  of  the  Empress.  Let  him  stay 
at  home,  then,  this  ill-bred  prince ! She  is  tired 
of  all  the  crotchets  that  cloud  his  brain.  When 
one  means  to  do  anything,  one  does  not  make 
difficulties  at  every  step.  The  document,  an 
official  document  which  has  to  pass  through  the 
chancellor’s  office,  is  all  in  this  tone.  But  can 
it  be  called  a diplomatic  communication  ? One 
would  say  rather,  a confidential  letter  to  an  in- 
timate friend,  on  whom  one  pours  out  all  one’s 
wrath  and  impatience,  simply  and  solely  to  ease 
one’s  nerves.  And  to  make  the  resemblance 
complete,  there  is  a postscript.  There  are  even 
four,  each  of  which  says  something  different, 
and  indeed  precisely  opposite,  to  what  has  just 
been  said  by  the  last ; the  whole  summed  up  by 
agreeing,  unconditionally  and  without  reserve,  to 
the  visit  which  had  been  so  vigorously  objected 
to  at  the  outset. 

At  times  Catherine  realises  the  action  of 
her  temperament  on  her  state  policy,  and  the 
unbalanced  elements  that  this  influence  brings 


FOREIGN  POLICY 


327 


into  it.  A^propos  of  her  declaration  of  armed 
neutrality,  issued  April  28,  1780,  she  writes  to 
Grimm:  ‘You  will  say  that  it  is  volcanic,  but 
there  was  no  means  of  doing-  otherwise.’  She 
adds  a reflection  which  we  have  already  found 
her  making,  and  which  seems  to  intimate  that 
she  has  not  forgotten  her  German  origin,  but  still 
desires  to  make  what  capital  out  of  it  she  can  : 
'Derm  die  Teutscheni  she  ' hassen  nicht 

so  als  wenn  die  Leute  ihnen  auf  die  Nase  spielen 
voollen ; das  liebte  der  Herr  Wagner  auck 
nicht  I 

But  this  is  only  a way  of  putting  things,  or, 
at  the  most,  a proof  that  she  sometimes  mis- 
judges the  transformation  which  has  taken  place 
in  her,  and  which  links  her  to  her  adopted 
country  by  the  deepest  fibres  of  her  being ; for 
her  foreign  and  home  policy  alike  are  essentially 
Russian,  as  is  her  mode  of  thinking  and  feeling, 
indeed  h^  whole  nature.  Russian^  ahdT  not  1 
German,  are  the  personal  elements  of  success  j 
that  she  puts  at  the  disposal  of  her  ambition,  I 
as  are  also  the  defects  which  hinder  their  free  | 
course.  For  there  is  nothing  German  in  this  I 
way  of  rushing  forward  with  one’s  eyes  shut, 
or  dreaming  with  one’s  eyes  open,  which  is 
peculiar  to  her,  this  way  of  leaving  reflection 
and  calculation  out  of  the  question.  It  may  be 
said  that  her  success  is  due  to  qualities  the  most 
precisely  opposed  to  the  German  temperament. 

A cold  and  calculating  German  would  never 
have  undertaken  the  first  Turkish  war.  ‘ The 
army,’  writes  Count  Simon  Vorontsof,  ‘was  re- 
duced, imperfect,  and  scattered  all  over  the 
empire.  It  had  to  march  in  the  depth  of  winter 


328  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

against  the  Turkish  frontier,  and  the  cannons, 
mortars,  bombs,  and  explosives  had  to  be  sent 
with  the  greatest  possible  speed  from  the  arsenal 
at  St.  Petersburg  to  Kief.’  When  the  second 
Turkish  war  and  the  Swedish  war  broke  out, 
it  was  worse  still.  In  1783  the  rupture  with  the 
Porte  being  imminent,  a regiment  of  dragoons, 
which  should  have  consisted  of  1200  to  1500 
men,  was  summoned  from  Esthonia.  Only  700 
men  were  to  be  found,  with  300  horses,  and 
not  a single  saddle.  Catherine  was  by  no  means 
daunted.  She  had  the  faith  which  scorns  ob- 
stacles, and  will  not  admit  impossibilities.  This 
faith,  which  removes  mountains,  and  sets  cannons 
travelling  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  an  empire 
some  thousand  miles  in  length,  is  not  a German 
quality. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  domain  of  foreign  politics, 
Catherine  accomplished  great  things  with  means 
which  the  constant  illusion  in  which  she  lived 
doubled  or  tripled  in  her  eyes,  but  which  were 
really  most  moderate.  She  supplied  their  lack 
by  her  moral  force,  which  was  immense. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  administration 
of  the  department  of  foreign  affairs,  she  brought 
a distinct  progress  to  Russia.  Nothing  daunted 
by  the  labour  of  which  Frederick  alone  among 
contemporary  sovereigns  showed  himself  careful 
and  capable,  and  adding  to  it  the  authority  that 
she  always  carried  with  her,  she  gave  to  the 
administration  of  this  department  a unity  of 
direction  that  it  had  never  yet  had.  At  the 
same  time  she  insisted  on  habits  of  probity  and 
professional  dignity  quite  alien  to  the  modes  of 
a not  very  distant  past.  In  June  1793  the 


FOREIGN  POLICY 


329 


,/\ 


English  ambassador  Buckingham,  urging  upon 
the  chancellor  Vorontsof  the  conclusion  of  a 
treaty  of  commerce,  thought  it  quite  natural  to 
supplement  his  demand  by  the  offer  of  a personal 
gratuity  of  £2000.  But  Vorontsof  at  once  re- 
plied : ‘ I leave  it  to  those  who  are  well  versed 
in  these  shameful  traffickings  to  decide  whether 
2000  or  200,000  pieces  would  balance  the  sale 
of  my  sovereign’s  interests.’  Bestoujef,  the 
chancellor  of  Elizabeth,  did  not  speak  this 
language. 


22 


BOOK  III 

THE  FRIEND  OF 'THE  PHILOSOPHERS 


CHAPTER  I 

LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES 

I 

Count  Hordt,  a Swede,  serving  in  the  Prussian 
army,  has  left  some  interesting  notes  on  his  visit 
to  St.  Petersburg.  The  first  five  months  of  it 
were  spent  in  prison.  This  was  under  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth.  Peter,  on  coming  to  the  throne, 
liberated  the  prisoner  and  invited  him  to  dinner. 

‘Were  you  well  treated  in  your  captivity?’ 
asked  the  Emperor.  ‘ Don’t  be  afraid  to  tell 
me.’ 

‘Very  ill-treated,’  replied  the  Swede.  ‘I  had 
not  even  any  books.’ 

At  that  a voice  was  heard,  saying  loudly : 
'That  was  barbarous  indeed.’  It  was  the  voice  ; 
of  Catherine. 

We  shall  endeavour  to  show  what  were  the 
relations,  so  often  commented  upon,  but  still  so 
little  really  known,  between  the  Empress  and 
those  who  were  the  main  instruments  of  hei 
European  fame.  Voltaire  and  his  rivals  in  the  ■ 
honour  and  adulation  of  the  ‘Semiramis  of  the 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  331 

North’  demand  a separate  study.  We  shall 
here  concern  ourselves  with  Catherine  alone. 

She  loved  books,  as  she  has  abundantly 
proved.  / Her  purchase  of  Diderot’s  library  is 
well  known.  Dorat  has  celebrated  this  ac- 
quisition in  an  epistle  in  verse  which  figures  in 
the  edition  of  his  GEuvres  Choisis,  embellished 
with  a vignette  in  which  are  seen  little  Loves 
dressed  in  furs  and  travelling  in  sledges.  Diderot 
asked  15,000  francs  for  his  treasure.  The 
Empress  offered  him  16,000,  on  condition  that 
the  great  writer  should  remain  in  posses- 
sion to  the  time  of  his  death.  Diderot  thus 
became,  without  leaving  Paris,  librarian  of 
Catherine  the  Great  in  his  own  library.  For 
this  he  had  a pension  of  1000  francs  a year.  It 
was  to  commence  in  1765.  The  following  year 
the  pension  was  not  paid.  This  was  then  the 
common  lot  of  pensions  and  pensioners,  not  only 
in  Russia.  On  hearing  of  it  from  Betzky,  Catherine 
wrote  through  him  to  her  librarian  that  she  did 
not  wish  ‘ the  negligenceofjji-official  to  cause  any 
disturbance  to  ker^Ji&fary.  and,  for  this  reason, 
she  would  send  to  M.  Diderot  for  fifty  years  in 
advance  the  amount  destined  to  the  maintenance 
and  increase  of  her  books,  and  at  the  expiration 
of  that  period,  she  would  take  further  measures.’ 
A bill  of  exchange  for  25,000  francs  accompanied 
the  letter. 

One  can  imagine  the  transports  of  enthusiasm 
in  the  philosophic  camp.  Later  on,  the  library 
of  Voltaire  joined  that  of  Diderot  in  the  Hermi- 
tage collection.  It  was  Grimm  who,  after  the 
death  of  the  patriarch  of  Ferney,  arranged  with 
Madame  Denis  for  this  new  acquisition.  The 


332 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


conditions  were,  ‘a  certain  sum’  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Empress,  and  a statue  of  Voltaire  which  she 
would  place  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  her  palace. 
Madame  Denis  relied  on  the  generosity  of 
Catherine,  so  much  belauded  by  the  illustrious 
dead  and  by  his  friends,  and  Catherine  was  re- 
solved, as  Grimm  expresses  it,  ‘ to  avenge  the 
ashes  of  the  greatest  of  philosophers  from  the 
insults  that  he  had  received  in  his  own  country.’ 
The  great  man’s  relatives,  his  grand-nephews 
particularly,  MM.  Mignot  and  d’Hornoy,  pro- 
tested against  the  transaction,  which,  they  con- 
sidered, infringed  upon  their  rights  and  upon 
those  of  France.  M.  d’Hornoy  even  attempted 
to  procure  an  official  intervention.  But  the 
Empress  held  to  her  bargain.  Voltaire’s  books 
now  form  part  of  the  Tmpei4al..Ji^ibrary,  to  which 
they  have  been  removed  from  tKe’palace  of  the 
Hermitage.  A special  room  is  assigned  to  them. 
In  the  middle  is  the  statue  of  Houdon,  a replica, 
from  the  hand  of  the  master,  of  the  one  in  the 
foyer  of  the  Comedie  Francjaise  at  Paris.  There 
are  about  7000  volumes,  the  greater  part  half- 
bound in  red  morocco.  Every  volume  contains 
annotations  in  Voltaire’s  handwriting. 

One  need  not  be  a Frenchman  to  feel,  on 
entering  this  room,  the  indefinable  sensation 
caused  by  the  sight  of  things  which  are  not  in 
their  proper  place.  These  relics,  the  monument 
of  one  of  the  greatest  glories  of  France,  should 
assuredly  not  be  here. 

These  were  not,  however,  the  largest  part  of 
the  additions  to  the  imposing  collection  of  printed 
books  and  manuscripts  with  which  Catherine 
endowed  Russia.  The  king  Stanislas  Ponia- 


/ 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  333 

towski  was,  we  know,  a cultivated  man.  On 
arriving  at  the  throne,  he  endeavoured  to  satisfy 
his  tastes  and  to  share  them  with  his  fellow- 
citizens.  The  capital  of  Poland  profited  by  this. 
It  had  already  a considerable  library,  founded  in 
1745  by  two  brothers,  who  were  distinguished 
savans  and  good  citizens,  the  Zaluskis,  Ponia- 
towski  enlarged  it.  On  taking  possession  of 
Warsaw,  Catherine  transported  the  king  to  St. 
Petersburg,  and  the  library  along  with  him. 
Having  no  longer  any  political  independence, 
the  Poles  were  supposed  to  have  no  longer  any 
need  of  books. 

Thus  Catherine  loved  books  : did  she  equally 
love  literature  ? The  question  may  seem  strange. 
It  demands  an  answer,  nevertheless.  The  reign 
of  Catherine  corresponds,  in  the  history  of  literary 
development  in  R'trssiaT-tcrajwen-manced  epoch. 
The  ^)T€cHnrfg^~ep£iichT'-d6minated  by  the  great 
figure  of  Lomonossof,  stands  out  clearly.  It  wasij 
during  the  lifetime  of  Elizabeth  and  for  some^ 
years  after  her  death,  a period  of  absorption  and' 
assimilation  of  foreign  elements  en  masse.  Euro- 
pean culture  entered  into  the  national  life  by  the 
door,  one  might  say  rather  by  the  breach  that 
Peter  the  Great  had  hewed  open.  A period 
of  reaction  and  of  struggle  followed.  The 
national  genius,  submerged,  trampled  upon, 
oppressed,  revolted  and  demanded  back  its 
rights.  It  came  finally  to  treat  foreign  litera- 
ture and  science  as  enemies.  The  poet  Dier- 
javine,  and  the  satirical  journalist  and  thinker 
Novikof,  were  the  heroes  of  this  campaign  of 
liberation.  What  part  was  played  in  this  crisis 
by  Catherine  ? We  know  what  she  did  with 


334  CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Novikof : she  broke  his  pen  and  his  life  ; fifteen 
years  of  imprisonment  were  the  last  reward  that 
she  gave  to  his  labours.  She  treated  Dierjavine 
worse  still : she  made  him  a tchinovnik  and  an 
abject  courtier. 

For  all  this  there  is  a reason.  Catherine’s 
was  an  intelligence  specially,  and,  so  to  speak, 
solely  organised  for  politics  and  the  government 
of  men.  She  is  a little  German  princess,  who, 
at  the  age'''of  fourteen,  comes  to  Russia  with  the 
idea  thart^  she  will  be  one  day  the  absolute  mis- 
tress this  immense  empire,  and  who  has  con- 
scientiously applied  herself  to  prepare  for  the 
part  she  will  have  to  play,  a part,  judging  by  the 
examples  before  her,  which  has  nothing  in  common 
with  that  of  a literary  Mecaenas.  Consequently, 
all  her  ideas,  all  her  tastes,  are  subordinated  to 
this  definite  conception  of  her  destiny,  and  of  the 
rights  and  duties  resulting  from  it.  What  she 
appreciates  in  Voltaire,  when  the  fame  and  the 
books  of  Voltaire  reach  her,  is  not  the  charm  of 
style — does  she  even  know  what  style  is  1 — but 
the  support  that  the  prose,  good  or  bad,  of  the 
author,  his  poetry,  melodious  and  full  of  senti- 
ment, or  dry  and  hard  to  the  ear,  might  afford 
to  the  development  of  the  programme  of  govern- 
ment that  she  has  vaguely  mapped  out  in  her 
mind.  She  has  no  sense  of  harmony,  and,  beyond 
her  family  relations  and  her  love-episodes,  she 
pays  little  heed  to  sentiment.  At  one  moment, 
at  the  beginning  of  her  reign,  influenced  a little 
by  her  reading  and  a great  deal  by  her  friend 
of  some  years’  standing.  Princess  Dachkof,  she 
is  wishful  to  take  part  in  the  artistic,  scientific, 
and  literary  movement  which  she  perceives  about 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  335 

her.  She  flings  herself  into  the  meUe  with  the 
ardour  she  puts  into  everything.  She  becomes  a 
writer.  She  becomes  a journalist.  But  we  know 
already  the  lamentable  shipwreck  of  her  liberal 
ideas.  And  what  happens  to  her  ideas  happens 
also  to  her  tastes.  All  the  love  she  may  have  ever 
had  for  letters  founders  in  this  disaster,  which  f 
even  the  glory  of  Voltaire  does  not  survive. 

But  let  us  first  look  at  her  tastes.  Voltaire 
apart,  French  literature,  the  only  literature  with 
which  she  is  familiar  up  to  a late  period  of  her 
life,  is  far  from  attracting  her  as  a whole.  She 
makes  her  selection,  and  what  she  selects  are 
the  works  of  Le  Sage,  and  those  of  Moliere  and 
Corneille.  After  studying  Voltaire,  she  has  en- 
joyed Rabelais,  and  even  Scarron.  But  she  has 
gone  back  upon  her  tastes  in  this  direction,  only 
remembering  them  with  a sort  of  shame  that  she 
has  ever  had  them.  As  for  Racine,  she  simply 
does  not  understand  him.  He  is  too  literary 
for  her.  Literature  with  him  is  art  for  art’s 
sake,  and  art  for  art’s  sake,  to  Catherine,  is 
nonsense.  When  she  applies  herself  to  the 
task  of  writing  comedies  and  tragedies,  she  does 
not  for  an  instant  dream  of  making  a work  of 
art : wha^t  she  d_o£s^'^criticisiiV-satireuand^  above 
all,  politics.  She  attacks  the  prejudices  and  vices 
that  she^erceives  in  the  morals  of  the  country, 
the  ideas,  and  even  the  men,  that  offend  her. 
She  makes  war  upon  the  Martinists,  and  occa- 
sionally upon  the  King  of  Sweden.  Literature, 
to  her,  is  merely  a branch  of  her  military  and 
repressive  powers.  Rhetoric,  for  her,  does  not 
exist : she  replaces  it  by  logic  and  her  authority 
as  samodierjitsa,  ruler  of  forty  millions  of  men. 


336  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

She,  nevertheless,  makes  a solitary  choice  in  the 
work  of  Racine : she  likes  Mithridate.  One 
sees  why. 

Still  her  disputatious  instincts  and  her  moralis- 
ing intentions  come  in  collision  with  continual 
obstacles  in  the  surroundings  in  which  she  lives. 
The  incident  in  connection  with  Sedaine  is  charac- 
teristic in  this  respect.  She  had  liked  Sedaine 
for  his  simple  gaiety,  and  the  easy  flow  of  his 
couplets,  so  pleasantly  brought  out  by  the  music 
of  Philidor.  This  pupil  of  Montesquieu  and  of 
Voltaire  had  a taste  for  comic  opera.  In  1779  it 
occurred  to  her  to  utilise,  after  her  own  fashion, 
the  talent  of  the  witty  and  prolific  writer.  Why 
should  he  not  compose,  on  her  lines,  and  for  her 
theatre  at  the  Hermitage,  a comedy  which  might 
follow  up  her  own  satirical  pieces?  Urged  on 
by  Grimm,  encouraged  by  Diderot,  Sedaine  com- 
poses a piece,  L' Epretwe  Inutile.  ‘Tell  him,’ 
writes  Catherine  immediately  to  Grimm,  ‘ that  if 
instead  of  one,  two,  or  three  pieces,  he  were  to 
do  a hundred,  I would  read  them  all  with  the 
greatest  eagerness.  You  know  that,  after  the 
Patriarch,  there  is  no  one  whose  writing  I like  so 
much  as  Sedaine’s.’  But  Betzky,  who  has  read 
the  piece  aloud  to  his  august  benefactress,  is 
much  less  enthusiastic.  He  points  out  ‘that  the 
piece,  if  it  were  played  before  the  court,  would 
give  umbrage  to  the  spectators,  and  that  the 
master  plays  a very  small  part  in  it.’  Catherine 
at  first  rebukes  these  timid  objections ; she 
intends  to  have  the  piece  acted,  ‘ if  it  were  only 
to  show  that  she  has  more  credit  herself  than 
Raymond.’  Betzky  insists ; he  considers  such  a 
tentative  not  merely  useless,  but  dangerous  ; and 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  337 

the  Empress  finally  comes  round  to  his  point  of 
view.  She  tells  Sedaine  that  she  thinks  his  play 
‘ good,  very  good  ’ ; she  sends  him  1 2,oco  francs 
for  his  trouble,  but  she  informs  him  that  his 
masterpiece  will  not  be  acted,  ‘ from  precaution.’ 
L' Epreuve  Inutile  does  not  even  receive  the 
honours  of  print.  We  are  unaware  if  it  was  pre- 
served in  manuscript. 

Some  years  later  a polemical  writer  of  quite 
other  range  appeared  on  the  scene,  before  a 
public  at  first  surprised  and  terrified,  but  soon  in 
great  part  won  over,  and  doing  all  that  could 
be  done  to  atone  for  its  first  scandal  by  the 
vehemence  of  its  present  applause.  Catherine 
ranges  herself  on  the  side  of  those  whom  the 
new  work  still  continues  to  shock  or  frighten. 

‘If  I ever  write  a comedy,’  she  says,  ‘ I shall 
certainly  not  take  the  Manage  de  Figaro  as  a 
model,  for,  after  Jonathan  Wild,  I have  never 
found  myself  in  such  bad  company  as  at  this 
celebrated  marriage.  It  is  apparently  with  an 
idea  of  imitating  the  ancients  that  the  theatre  has 
recurred  to  this  taste,  from  which  it  had  seemed 
to  be  purified.  The  expressions  of  Moliere 
were  free,  and  bubbled  up  like  effervescence  from 
a natural  gaiety,  but  his  thought  is  never  vicious, 
while  in  this  popular  play  the  undertone  is  con- 
stantly unworthy,  and  it  goes  on  for  three  hours 
and  a half.  Besides  that,  it  is  a mere  web  of 
intrigues,  in  which  there  is  a continual  effort,  and 
not  a scrap  of  what  is  natural.  I never  laughed 
once  all  the  time  I was  reading  it.’ 

But  Catherine’s  business  is  not  to  play  the 
part  of  a critic,  it  is  to  govern  Russia,  and  what 
Russia  needed  at  this  period  was  assuredly  not 


338  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

to  be  set  in  the  van  of  European  progress,  intel- 
lectual and  artistic ; it  was  to  follow,  at  a great 
distance,  those  who  were  ahead,  to  try  to  come 
up  with  them,  not  by  a servile  imitation,  but 
doubtless  by  finding  inspiration  in  them  for  the 
development  of  the  original  resources  of  the 
national  genius.  What  did  Catherine  do  to  help 
on  this  event,  as  was  her  duty  and  even  her 
ambition  in  the  radiant  days  when  she  accepted 
the  title  of  ‘the  Semiraniis  of  the  North,’  and 
Voltaire  declared  that  the  sun  seemed  to  have 
taken  to  shining  on  the  world  from  another 
quarter.^  We  hold  with  those  who  think  that 
the  best  way  of  protecting  literature  that  can  be 
found  by  a ruler,  is  to  leave  it  alone  without 
interfering  in  its  concerns.  Such  was  not  the 
opinion  of  Catherine.  She  wished  to  assert,  in 
this  as  in  all  other  domains,  her  personal  initia- 
tive and  her  supreme  command.  She  professed 
in  vain  to  have  ‘ a republican  soul  ’ ; the  republic 
of  letters  was  transformed  in  her  eyes  into  a 
monarchy  governed  by  her  despotic  will.  Did 
she,  however,  bring  to  light  a force,  a glory,  or 
did  she  even  aid  the  outcome  of  a new  period  in 
letters,  which  could  balance  the  merit  and  the 
reputation  of  the  writers  of  whom  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth  could  legitimately  boast  ? We  cannot 
see  that  she  did.  No  name  of  the  importance 
of  Lomonossof  and  Soumarokof,  whose  fame 
belongs  to  the  former  reign,  can  be  found  in  hers. 
Catherine  confined  herself  to  making  the  most  of 
this  heritage,  always  for  her  own  personal  interests, 
which  were  far  from  being  those  of  art  and 
literature.  Lomonossof,  now  grown  old,  served 
as  a sort  of  figure-head  ; Soumarokof,  with  his 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  339 

imitations  of  the  French  dramatists,  was  suffi- 
ciently good  as  a set-off.  There  was  perhaps  in 
Dierjavine  the  making  of  a great  poet ; she  sees 
nothing  of  it  in  him,  and  in  time  he  ceases  to  see 
it  in  himself.  Felitsa,  the  poem  on  which  his 
literary  reputation  rests,  is  merely  a pamphlet 
done  to  order,  half  panegyric,  half  satire.  The 
panegyric,  we  need  not  say,  is  for  the  Empress ; 
the  satire  for  the  court  nobles,  to  w’hom  Catherine 
desires  to  read  a lesson,  and  to  whom  she  sends 
copies  of  the  work,  with  the  passages  concerning 
them  carefully  underlined.  At  the  end  of  the 
reign  the  author  of  Felitsa  is  a mere  buffoon, 
wallowing  in  the  antechambers  of  the  favourite, 
Plato  Zoubof.  The  serious  rivals  of  Lomonossof, 
— those  who  try  to  react  against  the  current 
of  foreign  importation,  by  which  Soumarokof  is 
carried  along,  Kherasskof  too,  in  his  Rossiade, 
and  Bogdanovitch,  in  his  Dotichenka,  made  up 
from  the  insipidities  of  the  centuries  on  the 
subject  of  the  loves  of  Psyche — Kniajnine,  Von- 
Visine,  Lbukine,  add  some  interesting  plays  to 
the  national  drama.  Kniajnine  writes  the  Fan- 
faron, a comedy  which  remains  one  of  the  classics 
of  Russian  literature,  and,  in  Vadime  a Nov- 
gorod, attempts  the  historical  drama,  drawn  from 
the  fresh  sources  of  national  tradition.  Von- 
Visine,  the  Russian  Moliere,  ridicules  in  his 
Brigadier  the  acquirements  of  Muscovite  Tris- 
sotins,  founded  on  the  reading  of  French  novels  ; 
and,  in  his  Da  dais,  takes  off  the  educators  of 
aristocratic  youth,  brought  at  great  expense  from 
abroad.  But  this  national  drama  is  not  that  of 
Catherine.  She  never  visits  it,  until  in  her  later 
years,  when  the  whim  takes  her,  or  rather  she  finds 


340 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


it  good  policy,  to  be  interested  in  the  dramatisa- 
tion of  scenes  taken  from  the  history  of  the 
country. 

Meanwhile,  literature,  national  or  otherwise, 
feels  itself  so  little  under  her  protection,  that  the 
contributors  to  the  Sodiessiednik,  founded  by  the 
Princess  Dachkof,  dare  not  sign  their  articles, 
even  though  they  are  aware  that  the  Empress 
herself  is  one  of  their  number.  They  are  not 
unwise,  if  one  may  recall  the  fate  of  Prince 
Bielossielski,  who  wrote  so  charming  an  ‘ Epistle 
to  France,’  won  so  flattering  a reply  from  Voltaire 
on  ‘the  laurels  thrown  to  his  compatriots  and 
falling  back  upon  himself,’  and  who,  then  being 
Minister  at  Turin,  was  recalled  in  disgrace,  for  no 
reason  but  that  he  was  a man  of  wit,  that  he 
showed  it  in  his  despatches,  and  that  he  turned 
agreeable  verse.  Kniajnine,  too,  knew  what  it 
cost  to  cultivate  the  national  drama.  His  Vadime 
a Novgorod  was  torn  up  by  order  of  the 
Empress,  and  came  near  being  burnt  by  the 
public  executioner. 

I An  Academy,  founded  in  1783  on  the  model  of 
the  French  Academy,  under  the  inspiration  of 
/ /the  Princess  Dachkof,  is  the  sole  monument  that 
/Russian  literature  owes  to  a sovereign  to  whom 
/ Russia  owes  so  much  in  other  respects.  To  this 
/ Academy  was  confided  the  mission  of  fixing  the 
j rules  of  orthography,  the  grammar  and  prosody, 
fj  of  the  Russian  language,  and  of  encouraging  the 
I study  of  history.  It  began,  one  need  hardly  say, 
by  undertaking  a dictionary,  to  which  Catherine 
herself  contributed. 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  341 

II 

‘Tragedy  offends  her,  comedy  bores  her,  she 
does  not  care_Jiy:--«iusic,  her  cuisine  is  quite 
unst'udiedTTfT  gardens  she  cares  only  for  roses ; 
she  has,  in  short,  no  taste  for  anything  but  for 
building  and  for  domineering  over  her  court — for 
what  she  has  for  reigning,  and  figuring  in  the 
world,  is  a passion.’ 

It  is  thus  that  Durand,  the  French  chargd- 
d' affaires,  summed  up,  in  1773,  the  intellectual 
position  of  Catherine  the  Great.  His  observation 
was  correct,  especially  from  the  artistic  point  of 
view.  Was  it  lack  of  knowledge  in  her,  or  lack 
of  natural  disposition  ? It  was  as  much  the  one 
as  the  other.  She  herself  was  well  aware  of  it. 
In  1767,  when  Falconet  submitted  to  her  judg- 
ment the  design  for  the  statue  of  Peter  the  Great, 
she  excused  herself  from  passing  an  opinion  ; she 
understood  nothing  about  it,  and  she  recom- 
mended the  artist  to  the  judgment  of  his  own 
conscience  and  of  posterity.  Falconet  was  foolish 
enough  to  insist — 

‘ My  posterity  is  your  Majesty.  The  other 
may  come  when  it  will.’ 

‘ Not  at  all,’  replied  Catherine.  ‘ How  can  you 
submit  yourself  to  my  opinion  ? I do  not  even 
know  how  to  draw.  This  is  perhaps  the  first 
good  statue  I have  ever  seen  in  my  life.  The 
merest  school-boy  knows  more  about  your  art 
than  I do.’ 

We  often  find  in  her  mouth,  and  in  her  writing, 
parti  pris  oi  incompetence  and  self-abnega- 
tion, so  alien  from  the  general  tendency  of  her 
mind  and  temperament. 


342 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


She  has  an  opera  for  which  the  best  singers  are 
sought  all  over  Europe.  She  pays  heavy  incomes 
to  the  ‘stars,’  whose  demands  at  that  time  were 
without  limit.  But  she  acknowledges  that  all 
this  expense  is  not  in  the  least  for  her  own 
pleasure.  ‘ In  music,’  she  writes,  ‘ I am  no  more 
advanced  than  formerly.  I can  recognise  no 
tones  but  those  of  my  nine  dogs,  who  in  turn 
share  the  honour  of  being  in  my  room,  and 
whose  individual  voices  I can  recognise  from  a 
distance  ; the  music  of  Galuppi  and  Paisiello  I 
hear,  and  I am  astonished  at  the  tones  that  it 
combines,  but  I cannot  recognise  them  at  all.’ 

Nevertheless,  certain  comic  operas  of  Paisiello 
succeed  in  charming  her.  She  has  a sense  and 
~t^(.ste  for  the  grotesque.  She  is  enchanted  by  the 
PuJinoma,  and  even  remembers  some  of  the  airs, 
which  she  hums  over  when  she  happens  to  meet 
the  maestro. 

Sometimes,  too,  even  in  the  domain  of  art, 
where  she  feels  so  out  of  place,  her  despotic 
instincts  claim  their  rights  ; and,  as  if  by  miracle, 
she  has  certain  inspirations  which  are  not  without 
a certain  savour.  Here  is  a letter,  written  at  the 
time  of  her  first  triumphs  over  T urkey — 

‘ Since  you  speak  to  me  of  festivities  in  honour 
of  the  peace,  listen  to  what  I am  going  to  say, 
and  do  not  believe  a word  of  the  absurdities  of 
the  gazettes.  The  original  project  was  like  that 
of  all  festivities:  temple  of  Janus,  temple  of 
Bacchus,  temple  of  the  Devil  and  his  grand- 
mother, stupid  and  intolerable  allegories,  because 
they  were  gigantic,  and  because  not  to  have 
common  sense  wa^  supposed  to  be  an  effort  of 
genius.  Disgusted  with  all  these  fine  and  mighty 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  343 

plans,  which  I positively  would  not  have,  one  fine 
day  I summon  M.  Bajenof,  my  architect,  and  I 
say  to  him  : My  friend,  three  versts  from  the  city 
there  is  a meadow ; imagine  that  this  meadow  is 
the  Black  Sea ; that  there  are  two  roads  leading 
to  it  from  the  city  ; well,  one  of  these  roads  shall 
be  the  Tanais,  the  other  the  Borysthene ; at  the 
mouth  of  the  first  you  will  build  a banqueting- 
hall,  that  you  will  name  Azof ; at  the  mouth  of 
the  other  you  will  build  a theatre,  that  you  will 
name  Kinburn  ; you  will  trace  out  with  sand  the 
peninsula  of  the  Crimea ; you  will  there  enclose 
Kertch  and  lenicale,  as  ball-rooms  ; on  the  left  of 
the  Tanais  you  will  place  buffets  of  wine  and 
eatables  for  the  people ; opposite  to  the  Crimea 
you  will  have  illuminations  which  will  represent 
the  joy  of  the  two  empires  over  the  re-establish- 
ment of  peace ; on  the  other  side  of  the  Danube 
you  will  have  the  fireworks,  and  on  the  land 
which  is  supposed  to  be  the  Black  Sea  you 
will  place  illuminated  ships  and  boats  ; you  will 
garnish  the  banks  of  the  rivers  which  serve  as 
roads  with  landscapes,  mills,  trees,  houses,  all. lit 
up ; and  there  you  will  have  a file  without  any- 
thing imaginary  in  it,  but  perhaps  as  good  as 
many  others,  and  much  more  natural.’ 

There  is  something,  indeed,  very  natural  and 
charming  in  this  plan  of  a fete,  but  there  is  also 
a stroke  of  policy.  There  is  always  this  in  every- 
thing that  Catherine  thinks  and  does.  All  her 
prepossessions,  artistic  and  literary  included,  tend 
in  this  direction.  She  accumulates  in  her  Her- 
mitage considerable  artistic  collections,  but  she 
confesses  that  it  is  not  for  love  of  the  things  of 
beauty  that  are  heaped  up  in  the  galleries  and 


344 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


cabinets  that  she  prepares,  expressly  for  them. 
One  cannot  delight  in  what  one  does  not  under- 
stand, and  she  does  not  understand  in  what 
consists  .the  merit  of  a fine  picture  or  of  a fine 
statue.  /She  admits  that  it  is  part  of  the  glory  of 
\J  a.  great  i sovereign  to  have  these  things  in  his 
palace.  All  her  famous  predecessors,  all  the 
monarchs  in  history  whose  renown  she  envies  or 
seeks,  Louis  XIV.  at  their-Lead,  have  had  them.|/ 
But  she  hits'lDTr'tr^drd  whichroSnTfng  Trdn^  any^ 
one  but  herself,  would  have  the  air  of  a cruel 
epigram,  but  which  characterises  the  pijrchases, 
very  extensive  during  the  first  part  of  her  reign 
in  particular,  to  which  she  submits  in  order  to 
harry  out  this  part  of  her  programme  of  imperial 
/magnificence.  ‘ It  is  not  love  of  art,’  she  says, 
ly  ‘ it  is  voracity.  I am  not  an  amateur,  I am  a 
glutton.’  In  1768  she  buys  for  180,000  roubles 
the  famous  Dyesden-gallery  of  CounL...Bfttbk-.-£;X- 
Minister  oT'me  King  of  Poland.  In  1772  she 
purchases,  at  Paris,  the  Crozat  collection.  In 
reference  to  this  Diderot  writes  to  Falconet : 
‘Ah,  my  friend  Falconet,  how  things  have 
changed!  We  sell  our  pictures  and  our  statues 
in  time  of  peace ; Catherine  buys  them  in  time  of 
war.  The  sciences,  the  arts,  taste,  and  wisdom, 
all  make  for  the  North,  and  barbarism  with  its 
attendant  train  comes  down  upon  the  South. 

I have  just  carried  through  an  important  affair : 
the  acquisition  of  the  collection  of  Crozat,  in- 
creased by  his  descendants,  and  known  to-day 
under  the  name  of  the  gallery  of  the  Baron  de 
Thiers.  There  are  Raphaels,  Guidos,  Poussins, 
Van  Dycks,  Schidones,  Carlo  Lottis,  Rem- 
brandts, Wouvermans,  Teniers,  etc.,  to  the 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  345 

number  of  about  eleven  hundred.  It  has  cost 
her  Imperial  Majesty  460,000  francs.  That  is 
not  half  its  value.’ 

Her  usual  good  luck  accompanied  Catherine  in 
these  proceedings.  Three  months  later,  fifty 
pictures  of  not  greater  worth  were  sold  for  440,000 
francs  at  the  sale  of  the  Due  de  Choiseul’s 
collection.  She  herself  paid  30,000  francs  to 
Mme.  Geoffrin  for  two  pictures  of  Van  Loo,  La 
Conversation  Espagnole  and  La  Lecture  Espagnole. 
It  is  true  that  this  is,  perhaps,  on  her  part,  a way 
of  establishing  friendly  relations  with  the  in- 
fluential matron,  who  gains  on  the  bargain  two- 
thirds  of  the  amount.  She  has  one  misfortune, 
in  1771,  with  the  Braancamp  collection,  bought 
in  Holland  for  60,000  ecus,  which  goes  down  on 
the  coast  of  Finland  with  the  vessel  that  brings 
it.  But,  says  Catherine,  there  is  only  60,000 
6cus  lost.  She  can  easily  make  up  for  the  rest. 
She  buys  en  bloc  the  engraved  gems  of  the  Due 
d’Orleans.  Through  Grimm  and  Diderot  she 
sends  order  after  order  to  French  artists  : from 
Chardin  and  Vernet  she  demands  landscapes; 
from  Houdon  a Diana  (which  has  been  refused 
admittance  at  the  Louvre,  on  the  ground  that  it 
is  too  little  clothed) ; from  Vien,  a ceiling  for  the 
grand  staircase  at  Tzarskoie-Sielo ; from  the 
painter  on  enamel,  De  Mailly,  an  artistic  inkstand 
for  the  room  of  the  Order  of  St.  George,  for 
which  he  charges  36,000  francs,  and  wMch  he 
executes  very  unwillingly,  and  only  on  being 
forced  to  do  so  by  an  intervention  of  Government. 
In  1778  she  has  copies  made  at  Rome,  by 
Gunterberger  and  Reifenstein,  of  the  frescoes  of 
Raphael  in  the  Vatican ; and  she  has  a gallery 
23 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


346 

erected  a^die.H.extnitage  with  panels  of  the  same 
dimerisloh  to  receive  these  copies,  which,  being 
done  on  canvas,  have  been  since  utilised  in  the 
reconstruction  of  the  palace.  They  can  still  be 
seen  there.  In  1790,  in  sending  tojidturn  her 
portrait,  ‘ in  a fur  cap,’  she  writes  : ‘ Here  is  sorii^'’ 
thing  for  your  museum  ; mine,  at  the  Hermitage, 
consists  of  pictures,  the  panels  of  Raphael,  38,000 
^ooks,  four  rooms  filled  with  books  and  prints, 
Vo, 000  engraved  gems,  nearly  10,000  drawings,  and 
aTaWrreriyf~ifatljiral  history  contained  in  two  large 
rooms.  All  that  is  accompanied  by  a charming 
theatre,  admirably  adapted  for  seeing  and  hearing, 
and  also  as  to  seating  accommodation,  and  with 
no  draughts.  My  little  retreat  is  so  situated  that 
to  go  there  and  back  from  my  room  is  just  3000 
paces.  There  I walk  about  in  the  midst  of  a 
quantity  of  things  that  I love  and  delight  in,  and 
these  winter  walks  are  what  keep  me  in  health 
and  on  foot.’ 

All  that  is  her  own  doing.  In  accomplishing  it 
she  has  had  to  fight  with  serious  difficulties,  for, 
though  she  may  make  gold  at  will,  her  power  in 
this  respect  is  unlimited  only  within  the  limits  of 
her  empire — outside,  the  paper  money  loses  too 
much  in  change.  Thus,  from  the  year  1781  she 
feels  obliged  to  use  moderation.  She  writes  to 
Grimm  : ‘ I renew  my  resolution  to  buy  nothing 
more,  not  a picture,  nothing ; I want  nothing 
more,  and  consequently  I give  up  the  Correggio  of 
“the  divine.”  ’ That  is  indeed  a ‘glutton’s’  vow, 
as  valid  as  a drunkard’s ! A veritable  conflict 
commences,  from  this  moment,  in  the  mind  of 
Catherine,  between  her  desires  as  a collector,  now 
a passion  with  her,  and  her  forced  instincts  of 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES  347 

economy.  It  is  not  the  latter  that  most  generally 
win  the  day.  The  letter  to  Grimm  that  we  have 
just  cited  is  dated  March  29;  on  the  14th  of 
April  we  find  in  the  correspondence  of  the 
Empress  with  her  art-purveyor  this  passage : 
‘if  “the  divine”  [Reiffenstein]  would  send  her, 
direct  to  St.  Petersburg,  some  very  very  fine 
old  cameos,  in  one,  two,  or  three  colours,  in 
perfect  state  and  keeping,  we  should  be  infinitely 
obliged  to  those  who  would  procure  them  for  us. 
That  is  not  to  be  called  a purchase,  but  what  is 
one  to  do?’  And  on  the  23rd  she  writes  : ‘ Now, 
you  may  say  what  you  like,  you  may  rail  at  me 
as  you  please,  but  I must  have  two  copies  of 
coloured  prints,  according  to  the  list  I am  going 
to  give  you  . . . for  we  are  gluttons,  and  so 
gluttonous  for  everything  of  that  kind,  that  there 
is  no  longer  a house  in  St.  Petersburg  where  one 
can  decently  live  if  it  does  not  contain  something 
faintly  resembling  the  panels,  the  Eternal  Father, 
or  the  whole  string  that  I have  enumerated.’ 

‘ Lord,  one  would  say  that  the  good  resolutions 
of  Thine  anointed  are  wavering ! ’ observes 
Grimm  maliciously  in  his  reply.  He  has  his 
doubts,  too,  as  to  what  has  provoked  this  return 
of  ‘gluttony.’  In  using  the  collective  pronoun 
‘us,’  Catherine  does  not  use  the  plural  instead  of 
the  singular  by  a mere  trick  of  speech.  The 
‘ gluttons  ’ of  whom  she  speaks  are  indeed  two  at 
present.  After  the  favourite  Korssakof,  who 
was  a mere  boor,  has  come,  since  the  end  of  1780, 
the  handsome  Lanskoi,  who  is  a man  of  education 
and  refined  tastes.  And  the  handsome  Lanskoi 
has  a real  passion  for  prints  and  cameos.  In 
July  1781,  sending  Grimm  new  orders  for 


348  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

purchases,  Catherine  explains  that  these  are  not 
for  her,  ‘but  for  gluttons  who  have  become 
gluttons  through  knowing  me.’  The  money  is 
certainly  hers,  that  is  to  say,  Russia’s.  In  1784 
she  renews  her  resolution  of  buying  nothing  more, 
‘being  poor  as  church  mice.’  But  Lanskoi 
sends  50,000  francs  to  Grimm  ‘for  the  purchase 
of  a cabinet  of  pictures,’  and  promises  a further 
amount  shortly.  This  new  course  of  things  goes 
on  for  some  time.  In  1784,  it  is  true,  there  is  a 
momentary  pause  ; C^thef4fte..^will  have  no  more 
cam'eosy-4xQtc»...anyjdwlTg  of  the  iclrid.  Lanskoi  is 
dead,  and  with  him  is  dead  also  the  taste  for 
things  which,  as  she  frankly  confesses,  she  does 
not  understand  a bit.  But  in  April  1785  it 
begins  again.  What  has  happened  Mamonof 
has  taken  the  place  of  Lanskoi,  and  with  the 
place  he  seems  to  have  inherited  the  artistic 
tastes  of  the  deceased.  It  is  not  till  1794  that 
this  intermittent  fever  comes  finally  to  an  end. 
‘ I shall  not  buy  anything  more,’  says  Catherine, 
on  January  13.  ‘I  must  pay  my  debts  and  save 
up  money ; so  refuse  all  the  bargains  that  are 
offered  you.’  It  is  Plato  Zoubof  who  reigns  now, 
and  Zoubof  cares  for  nothing  engraved  save  the 
gold  circles  bearing  the  effigy  of  his  imperial 
mistress. 

Up  to  now  the  Empress  has  not  merely  been 
increasing  her  collections ; she  has  also  been 
building.  We  should  say,  she  has  especially 
been  building.  And  this  time  the  pleasure  has 
all  been  her  own,  as  Durand  intimated  in  1773. 
We  have  seen  what  the  Prince  de  Ligne  thought 
of  the  sovereign’s  taste  and  knowledge  in  regard 
to  architecture.  But  in  default  of  judgment  and 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES 


349 


sense  of  proportion  she  has  at  least  plenty  of 
spirit.  She  replaces  artistic  sense  by  enthusiasm, 
and  quality  by  quantity.  ‘You  know,’  she 
writes  in  1779,  ‘that  the  mania  of  building  is 
stronger  with  us  than  ever,  and  no  earthquake 
ever  demolished  so  many  buildings  as  we  have 
set  up.’  She  adds  in  German  these  sad  re- 
flections : ‘ The  mania  of  building  is  an  infernal 
thing ; it  runs  away  with  money,  and  the  more 
one  builds,  the  more  one  wants  to  build ; it  is  a 
disease,  like  drunkenness.’ 

At  this  moment  she  gpnrlg  fn  pnmp  fr.r  f-wr> 
architects — Giadomo  Trontbara  and  Geronino 
Quarenghi.  She  thus  explains  her  choice : ‘ I 
want  Italians  because  our  Frenchmen  know  too 
much,  and  make  horrid  houses,  inside  and  out, 
because  they  know  too  much.’  Always  the  same 
contempt  for  care,  the  same  penchant  for  impro- 
visatibirr  ^SFe  "nevertheless  frequently  consults 
the  learned  Clerisseau,  who  sends  her  plans  of 
palaces  in  the  Roman  style.  Perronnet  furnishes 
her  with  the  scheme  of  a bridge  over  the  Neva ; 
Bourgeois  de  Chateaublanc,  another  of  a light- 
house for  the  shores  of  the  Baltic.  In  1765  she 
demands  of  Vasse  a design  for  an  audience- 
chamber  1 20  feet  long  and  62  high. 

With  all  that,  does  she  give  good  cause  to 
artists,  whether  architects,  painters,  or  sculptors, 
to  praise  her  treatment  of  them  ? Let  us  not  ask 
Falconet,  on  his  return  from  St.  Petersburg;  his 
reply  would  be  too  bitter.  We  shall  have  to  speak 
elsewhere  of  the  visit  to  the  capital  of  the  North  of 
the  man  to  whom  the  city  of  Peter  the  Great  and 
of  Catherine  owes  to  this  very  moment  its  finest 
ornament.  We  shall  try  also  to  show  what  were 


350  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

his  relations  with  the  sovereign,  beginning,  on  her 
part,  with  more  than  courtesy,  and  ending  with 
more  than  indifference.  Let  us  say  here  that, 
not  having  the  least  comprehension  of  artistic 
things,  Catherine  could  not  in  any  way  be  likely 
to  understand  the  soul  of  an  artist.  Falconet 
pleased  her  at  first  by  his  original  and  somewhat 
paradoxical  turn  of  mind,  still  more  perhaps  by 
the  oddities  of  his  disposition  ; she  soon  grew 
tired,  and  finally  impatient  of  him.  He  was 
too  much  of  an  artist  for  her  liking.  She  had 
always  her  own  way  of  interpreting  the  part  to 
be  played  in  the  world  by  the  men  of  talent 
whom  she  wished  to  employ  in  improving  her 
capital.  She  frankly  confesses  it  in  one  of  her 
letters  to  Grimm : ‘ Si  il  signor  marchese  del 
Grimmo  volio  mi  fare  a pleasure,  he  will 
have  the  goodness  to  write  to  the  divine  Reif- 
fenstein  to  look  me  out  two  good  architects, 
Italians  by  birth  and  skilled  in  their  profession, 
whom  he  will  engage  in  the  service  of  her  Imperial 
Majesty  of  Russia  for  so  many  years,  and  whom 
he  will  send  from  Rome  to  St.  Petersburg  like  a 
bundle  of  tools!  Tools — it  is  just  that;  tools  that 
one  uses,  anf  jvthen  throws  away  when  they  are 
done  with,  or  one  finds  better  and  handier  ones 
at  hand.  It  was  thus  that  she  did  with  Falconet. 
She  gives  this  further  piece  of  advice  to  Grimm  : 
* He  will  choose  honest  and  reasonable  people, 
not  dreamers  like  Falconet ; people  who  walk  on 
the  earth,  not  in  the  air.’  She  will  have  nothing 
aspiring.  * A Michael  Angelo,’  it  has  been  justly 
said,  ‘ would  never  have  remained  three  weeks  at 
the  court  of  Catherine.’  To  remain  there  nearly 
twelve  years,  required  in  Falconet  an  extra- 


LITERARY  AND  ARTISTIC  TASTES 


351 


ordinary  power  of  resistance,  and  a veritable 
passion  for  the  work  he  had  begun,  into  which  he 
had  put  all  his  soul.  But  when  at  last  he  went, 
he  was  broken  down.  Apart  from  him,  Catherine 
did  not  keep  by  her  any  foreign  artists  who  were 
not  mediocrities  ; Brompton,  an  English  painter, 
a pupil  of  Mengs,  and  Koenig,  a German  sculp- 
tor. Brompton  paints  allegories  which  delight 
the  sovereign,  for  they  are  political  allegories. 
‘ He  has  painted  my  two  grandsons,  and  it  is  a 
charming  picture : the  elder  amuses  himself  by 
cutting  the  Gordian  knot,  and  the  other  has 
proudly  put  the  flag  of  Constantine  about  his 
shoulders.’  Koenig  does  a bust  of  Patiomkine. 
Mme.  Vigee-Lebrun,  arriving  at  St.  Petersburg 
in  1795  with  an  achieved  reputation,  meets  with 
a flattering  reception  everywhere  but  at  the  court 
— Catherine  finds  little  pleasure  in  her  society, 
and  considers  her  pictures  so  bad  ‘ that  one  must 
have  a very  distorted  sense  of  things  to  paint  like 
that.’ 

And  the  Russian  artists — what  does  she  do  in 
this  respect.^  Does  she  try  to  r^iscover  native 
talent,^  to  encourage  it,  and  bring  it  to  the  front? 
The  list  of  nationdP  glories,  cc  gj  smporaneous 
with  her  reign,  is  easy  to  establish  in  this  sphere. 
There  is  Scorodoumof,  an  engraver,  who  had 
studied  art  in  France,  and  whom  she  sent  for  at 
Paris  in  1782,  in  order  to  take  him  into  her 
service;  and  whom  a traveller,  Portia  de  Piles, 
found,  a few  years  later,  in  an  empty  studio, 
engaged  in  polishing  a copper  plate  for  a wretched 
design  done  to  order : he  explained  that  there 
was  not  a workman  in  St.  Petersburg  capable  of 
doing  this  kind  of  work ; was  astonished  that  a 


352  CATHERINE  II.  CjF  RUSSIA 

stranger  took  any  interest  in  what  he  was  doing; 
was  quite  resigned  to  the  low  uses  of  his  pro- 
fession. There  is  Choubine,  a sculptor,  dis- 
covered by  the  same  visitor  in  a narrow  room, 
without  models,  without  pupils,  with  only  one 
order,  a bust,  for  which  an  admiral  has  offered 
him  loo  roubles,  the  marble  itself  costing  8o 
roubles,  which  he  has  to  take  out  of  the  price. 
There  is,  lastly,  the  painter  Lossienko.  Here  is 
what  Falconet  says  of  him:  ‘The  poor  fellow, 
starving  and  in  the  depths  of  misery,  wishing  to 
live  anywhere  but  at  St.  Petersburg,  came  and 
told  me  all  his  troubles  ; then,  sinking  into  drunk- 
enness in  his  despair,  he  little  knew  what  he 
would  gain  by  dying : we  read  on  his  tombstone 
that  he  was  a great  man  ! ’ 

The  glory  of  Catherine  wanted  one  great  man 
the  more,  and  she  had  him  cheaply.  The  artist 
once  dead,  she  willingly  added  his  apotheosis 
to  all  her  grandeurs.  She  had  not  taken  any 
pains  to  keep  him  alive.  All  her  artistic  ideas 
reduce  themselves,  in  the  last  resort,  to  a question 
of  show.  And,  for  this  object,  the  ‘ divine  ’ 
Reiffenstein,  whose  name  is  known  all  over 
Eun  ^ ;,  is  obviously  worth  more  than  the  poor 
Lossienko,  though  he  was  no  more  than  a good 
copyist.  National  art,  in  short,  owes  to  Catherine 
/some  models  furnished  by  her  to  the  study  and 
emulation  j^f  Russian  artists.  Beyond  that,  she 
did  not  givv,  it  so  much  as  a morsel  of  bread. 


CATBERWE  AS  A WRITER 


3S3 


CHAPTER  II 

CATHERINE  AS  A WRITER 
I 

Durand  certainly  made  a mistake  in  his  reckon- 
ing when  giving  his  list  of  the  things  in  which 
Catherine  took  pleasure.  He  forgot  one  at  least 
of  her  favourite  pastimes : she  liked  to  write.^ 
We  do  not  believe  there  was  anything  she  liked 
so  much.  It  was  not  only  a taste  in  her — it  was 
in  some  sort  a necessity,  almost  a physical  neces- 
sity. It  seems  that  the  mere  fact  of  holding  a 
pen  in  her  hand,  and  having  before  her  a white 
sheet  of  paper,  on  which  she  can  set  her  fancy 
roving,  gives  her  a pleasant  sensation,  not  only 
mental,  but  like  a thrill  of  physical  delight.  She 
says  herself,  in  one  of  her  letters  to  Grimm,  that 
the  sight  of  a new  pen  makes  her  fingers  itch. 
She  never  dictates.  ‘ I do  not  know  how  to 
dictate,’  she  says.  All  that  she  writes  is  witten 
with  her  own  hand,  and  what  does  she  not'  ,’fite  ? / 
Besides  her  political  correspondence,  which  is 
very  active,  and  her  private  correspondence, 
which,  with  the  enormous  budgets  sent  regularly 
to  Grimm,  attains  huge  proportions  ; besides  her 
work  in  regard  to  signatures,  to  rep  -its  sent  in 
to  her,  which  she  covers  with  marginal  notes,  to 
her  dramatic  and  other  compositions,  she  writes 
much  and  often  for  herself,  for  her  own  satisfac- 
tion, sometimes  for  no  apparent  reason,  unless  for 
that  of  calming  that  itching  of  the  fingers.  She 


/ 


354 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


makes  extracts  from  old  chronicles  relating  to  the 
life  and  glorious  actions  of  St.  Sergius,  in  which 
we  cannot  imagine  that  she  has  any  particular 
interest.  She  works  at  copying  the  old  church 
Sclavonic,  an  acquaintance  with  which  would  not 
seem  to  be  indispensable  to  her  duties  as  Orthodox 
sovereign.  Sho  cannot  read  a book  without 
covering  the  margins  with  her  great  scrawling 
writing.  She  draws  up  plans  for  and  pro- 

grammes for  concerts.  Contrary  to  that  statesman 
of  our  days  who  could  only  think  when  he  was 
talking,  one  might  say  of  her  that  she  could  only 
Ihink  when  writing.  So,  like  the  other  with  his 
words,  she  was  carried  away  by  what  she  wrote. 
Her  pen  ran  away  with  her  thought,  and  sent  it 
astray.  She  was  well  aware  of  it  herself.  She 
wrote  to  Grimm — 

‘ I was  going  to  say  that  I would  write  for  you, 
so  much  in  the  scribbling  mood  am  I ; but  I 
recollect  that  I am  here  and  you  in  Paris.  I 
advise  you  to  dictate,  for  I have  been  advised  a 
hundred  times  to  do  so  myself : happy  is  the 
man  who  can  do  so ; for  my  part,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  talk  nonsense  with  the  pen  of 
another.  ...  If  I said  to  this  other  what  flows 
from  my  pen,  he  would  often  not  write  what  I 
said.’ 

How  does  she  find  the  time  to  write  all  that 
she  writes  ? She  rises  at  six  o’clock  in  the 
morning  to  chat  at  her  ease  with  her  confidant, 
pen  in  hand.  Despite  these  laborious  habits,  the 
question  remains  for  us  an  enigma.  On  May  7, 
1767,  the  Empress,  on  a voyage  of  inspection, 
finds  herself  on  the  Volga  in  ‘ frightful’ weather. 
She  takes  the  opportunity  to  write  a long  letter 


CATHERINE  AS  A WRITER  355 

to  Marmontel,  who  has  just  sent  her  his  Bdlisaire. 
It  is  miraculous.  Note  that,  thinking  and  writing 
being  the  same  thing  to  her,  and  her  inaptitude 
to  precede  the  manual  labour  of  putting  things 
down  by  the  intellectual  labour  of  putting  them 
together  being  complete,  she  goes  over  and 
over  again  anything  to  which  she  attaches  much 
importance.  We  have  thus  two  rough  drafts  of 
a letter  addressed  by  her  in  1768  to  the  Aca- 
demy of  Berlin,  which  had  offered  her  the  title 
of  honorary  member.  She  sometimes  makes 
more,  for  she  does  not  like  erasures.  If  the 
expression  or  the  phrase  which  comes  up  does 
not  suit  her,  she  throws  aside  the  sheet — 
generally  a large-sized  sheet,  gilt-edged — and 
begins  over  again. 

Her  phraseology  is  at  times  very  happy,  trans- 
lating her  thought  with  a single  vigorous  or 
picturesque  expression.  In  refusing  to  evacuate 
the  Crimea,  as  the  cowardice  of  Patiomkine  ad- 
vises her  in  1 788,  and  looking  for  arguments  to 
justify  her  decision,  she  writes  : ‘ Does  a man 
who  is  in  the  saddle  get  down  in  order  to  hold 
on  to  the  horse’s  tail.^’  Her  letters,  especially 
her  letters  to  Grimm,  are  full,  at  the  same  time, 
of  words  and  turns  of  phrase  in  which  the 
bonhomie  and  carelessness  of  thought  and  lan- 
guage alike  are  unbounded,  and  sometimes  be- 
come positively  gross.  Not  content  with  inter- 
larding her  incorrect  French  with  German  or 
Italian  words  and  phrases,  she  often  writes  in 
slang.  She  puts  ‘sti-la’  for  ‘celui-la,’  ‘ ma  ’ for 
‘mais.’  Probably  she  speaks  in  the  same  way. 
She  is  not  averse  from  a certain  triviality.  We 
shall  not  venture  to  reproduce  here  the  gaul- 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


356 

oiseries —diVe.  they  indeed  gauloiseries  ? — which 
sometimes  crop  up  when  she  is  in  the  jocose  and 
familiar  vein,  and  we  should  certainly  tire  or 
even  disgust  our  readers  with  the  quips  and 
quibbles  which  she  is  for  ever  sprinkling  over 
her  epistolary  conversation. 

It  is  true  that  this  is  her  ‘undress’  style,  her 
language  of  asides: — LCT'US  'see  now  What  is  her 
style  as  a writer,  her  way  of  writing  for  the 
public. 


II 

It  is  in  her  works  written  for  the  s£^e  that 
the  pen  of  Catherine  is  most  prolific.  She  does 
j^something  of  everything  in  literature,  but  espe- 
cially dramatic  writing. 

r ‘You  ask  me,’  she  writes  to  Grimm,  ‘why  I 
^ write  so  many  comedies.  I will  reply,  like 
M.  Pince,  with  three  reasons : primo,  because  it 
amuses  me  ; secundo,  because  I should  like  to 
restore  the  national  theatre,  which,  owing  to  its 
lack  of  new  plays,  is  somewhat  gone  out  of 
fashion ; and  tertio,  because  it  was  time  to  put 
down  the  visionaries  who  were  beginning  to  hold 
up  their  heads.  Le  Trompeur  and  Le  Trompd 
have  had  a prodigious  success.  . . . The.  most 
amusing  part  of  it  is  that  at  the  first  performance 
there  were  cries  of  “ Author ! ” who,  how'ever, 
kept  completely  incognito,  despite  his  huge 
success.  Each  of  these  pieces  has  brought  in, 
at  Moscow,  10,000  roubles  to  the  management.”’^! 

It  is  not  needful,  we  see,  to  be  an  author 
played  at  Paris  to  secure  the  welcome  that  a 
happy  idea  always  receives  from  the  public,  and 


CA  THERINE  AS  A WRITER  357 

the  imperial  diadem  does  not  preclude  happy 
ideas. 

In  Le  Trojnpenr  and  Le  Trompd  Catherine 
has  brought  Cagliostro  and  his  dupes  on  the 
stage.  The  greater  part  of  her  plays  are  thus 
polemical  or  satirical,  philosophical,  social,  or 
religious.  She  bravely  attacks  the  ideas  or 
tendencies,  or  even  persons,  that  she  disapproves 
of  or  dislikes.  One  may  say  that  she  has  put 
into  them  her  best  work  as  a writer.  She  has, 
nevertheless,  not  the  least  sense  of  the  dramatic. 
The  dramatic  element,  properly  speaking,  is 
absent  from  her  comedies  as  from  her  serious 
dramas.  There  is  no  art  of  composition,  no 
knowledge  of  effect,  no  creative  faculty,  not  a 
type  among  all  these  characters  ; but  here  and 
there  certain  traits  caught  sur  le  vif  in  the 
manners  of  the  country,  a certain  wit,  good- 
humour,  and  a real  gift  of  observation.  The 
general  tendency  is  that  of  Voltaire,  toned  down 
by  the  respect  of  certain  sentiments,  the  religious 
sentiment  among  others,  which  she  is  obliged  to 
treat  so  carefully  in  the  surroundings  in  which  she 
is  placed.  The  principal  aim  is  to  oppose  the 
current  of  mysticism  which  begins  to.  penetrate 
the  upper  strata  of  society,  finding  in  the  natural 
leanings  of  the  Russian  mind  an  element  highly 
favourable  to  its  propagation.  It  is  with  Free- 
masonry and  Martinism  that  she  has  most  often 
a bone  to  pick.  One  day  she  assimilates  the 
Freemasons  to  the  Siberian  sect  of  Chamanes, 
whom  she  tries  to  turn  into  ridicule  by  accusing 
them  of  extorting  money  from  the  weak-witted 
folk  on  whose  credulity  they  trade.  This  is  the 
theme  of  Chamane  Sibirski  (Chamane  of  Siberia), 


3S8  CATHERINE  H.  of  RUSSIA 

a piece  for  which  an  article  in  the  Encyclopddie 
(Theosophy)  has  furnished  her  with  the  canvas  ; 
it  is  also  that  of  Obmanchtchik  (The  Deceiver), 
and  Obolchtchenie  (The  Deceit).  But  she  also 
attacks  occasionally  other  errors  and  absurdities. 
One  of  the  characters  of  O Vremia  ! (translated 
into  French  under  the  title,  O temps  ! O mceurs  /), 
Madame  Hanjahina,  in  the  fervour  of  her  religious 
devotion,  is  in  the  act  of  performing  fifty  genu- 
flections before  a holy  image.  A peasant  enters, 
and,  after  kissing  his  mistress’s  feet,  puts  a paper 
into  her  hand.  How  dare  he  trouble  her  at  such 
a moment.  ‘ Leave  me,  demon,  imp  of  hell ! ’ 
she  cries.  ‘ Fear  the  wrath  of  God,  and  mine.’ 
She  nevertheless  glances  at  the  paper:  it  is  a 
petition,  on  the  part  of  a lover  who  wishes  to 
marry,  and  who,  in  his  capacity  of  serf,  requires 
the  authorisation  of  his  mistress.  ‘ The  idea  of 
coming  and  disturbing  with  such  requests  a pro- 
prietress of  serfs,  who  is  at  her  devotions ! ’ 
Mme.  Hanjahina  turns  the  luckless  importunate 
out  of  doors,  and  returns  to  her  genuflections. 
But  she  has  lost  the  reckoning.  Must  she  do 
them  all  over  again  ? She  begins  the  task,  but 
before  beginning  she  summons  her  people,  and 
orders  them  to  give  fifty  times  fifty  blows  to  the 
peasant,  who  must  have  been  sent  by  Satan  him- 
self, and  who  shall  never  marry,  let  him  be 
assured  of  that,  as  long  as  she  lives  and  continues 
to  reverence  the  holy  images. 

Catherine  also,  it  appears,  wrote -^etion..  In 
the  third  volume  of  his  History  of  German 
Literature,  Kurtz  includes  the  Empress  among 
the  number  of  German  writers  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  as  author  of  an  Eastern  romance. 


CA  THERINE  AS  A WRITER 


359 


Obidack,  written  in  1786.  He  attributes  to  her 
several  other  works  in  her  mother  tongue,  of 
which  he  does  not  mention  the  titles. 

We  have  also  some  fragments  of  the  Empress’s 
work  as  a fabulist.  In  writing  for  her  grand- 
children one  of  the  tales  that  Grimm  published 
for  the  first  time  in  1790,  in  his  Correspondence, 
Catherine  was  a little  out  of  her  reckoning.  The 
Tsarevitch  Chlore,  as  well  as  the  Tsarevitch  Febei, 
are  philosophical  tales  in  the  style  of  Voltaire, 
with  allegorical  turns,  moralising  intentions,  and 
scientific  pretensions,  quite  out  of  the  range  of 
childish  minds.  Catherine  had,  nevertheless, 
what  we  now  CaTT*  a knowledge  of  children,’  the 
art  of  putting  herself  on  the  level  of  young,  fresh, 
naive  imaginations ; she  had  also  a love  of 
children.  But,  pen  in  hand,  sh 


forgot  what  she  knew  the  best. 


given  evidence,  in  these  compositions,  of  much 
fertility  of  invention,  or  of  a particularly  in- 
genious turn  of  mind,  or  an  original  inspiration. 
She  has  once  again  stolen  some  one’s  ideas— 
those  of  Jean-Jacques  and  of  Locke  this  time. 

Finally,  Catherine  has  had  her  poetical 
moments.  The  taste  came  to  her  late  in  life. 
‘Imagine,’  she  writes  in  1787,  to  Grimm,  ‘that 
on  my  galley,  going  down  the  Borysthene,  he 
The  Comte  de  Segur]  wanted  to  teach  me  to 
write  verse  ! I have  been  rhyming  for  the  last 
four  days,  but  it  takes  too  much  time,  and  I have 
begun  too  late.’  Nevertheless,  the  year  before, 
she  had  already  asked  Chrapowicki  to  send  her  a 
dictionary  of  Russian  rhymes,  if  there  was  one  in 
existence. 

We  do  not  know  what  success  attended  her 


36o  CATHERINE  11.  of  RUSSIA 

secretary’s  researches  in  this  direction,  but  after 
1788  we  often  enough  find  the  Empress  rhym- 
ing, both  in  Russian  and  in  French.  In  August 
1788  she  writes  burlesque  verses  on  the  King 
of  Sweden,  while  composing  a French  comedy, 
Les  Voyages  de  Madame  Bontemps,  which  she 
intends  to  have  acted,  by  way  of  surprise,  in 
the  apartments  of  the  favourite  Mamonof  on  his 
birthday.  In  January  1789  she  sends  to  Chrapo- 
wicki  two  Russian  quatrains  on  the  taking  of 
Otchakof.  One  of  them  is  somewhat  remark- 
able for  its  vigour  of  thought  and  the  energy  of 
some  expressions.  As  for  the  poetic  form,  it 
escapes  our  estimation.  Here  is  a French  qua- 
train, without  date,  which  will  permit  the  reader 
to  see  for  himself  the  skill  of  Catherine  in  this 
branch  of  literature.  It  is  an  epitaph  composed 
by  her  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  the  Count 
I.  I.  Chouvalof,  who,  since  1777,  had  been  the 
Empress’s  high  chamberlain — 

‘ Ci  git 

Monseigneur  le  grand  chambellan 

A cent  ans  blanc  comme  Milan  ; 

Le  voilk  qui  fait  la  moue ; 

Vivant  il  grattait  la  joue.' 


We  shall  doubtless  be  excused  from  giving 


more. 


yji.  

Catherine  also  undertook  to  tr^^i^late  the 
Iliad.  Three  sheets  of  attempts  in  her  hand- 
writing are  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  A 
empire.  Certainly,  she  attempted  many  things.  / j 


CATHERINE  AND  EDUCATION 


361 


CHAPTER  III 

CATHERINE  AND  EDUCATION 
I 

The  institutions  founded  by  Catherine  for  the 
furtherance  of  national  education,  her  educational 
ideas  and  writings,  hold  too  large  a place  in  the 
history  of  her  reign,  and  in  that  of  the  intellectual 
development  of  her  people,  for  us  to  omit  some 
consideration  of  them  in  this  study,  brief  as  must 
be  the  space  that  we  can  give  them.  On  arriving 
at  power,  Catherine  was  quick  to  see  what  ad- 
vantage she  had  derived,  in  the  struggle  from 
which  she  had  come  out  victorious,  from  the 
superiority  of  her  intellectual  culture,  the  relative 
extent  and  variety  of  her  knowledge.  At  the 
same  time,  she  was  able  to  judge  how  much  it 
cost  in  Russia,  even  on  the  throne,  to  arrive  at 
the  little  knowledge  that  she  possessed.  Finally, 
the  handling  of  power  must  soon  have  shown 
her  the  enormous  difficulties  that  the  best-inten- 
tioned  rulers  have  always  had  to  meet  with  from 
the  ignorance  of  their  subjects.  The  reform,  or 
rather  the  establishment,  oLiiatiofial-education  is, 
from  the  first,  one  of  the  principal  ideas  brought 
by  the  Empress  to  the  government  of  her  empire." 
In  this  regard  she  had  everything,  or  almost 
everything,  to  do.  The  lower  classes  did  not 
count,  the  middle  class  hardly  existed ; there 
was  therefore  nothing  to  do  but  to  raise  the  level 
of  studies  at  the  summit  of  the  social  ladder,/ 


CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


362 

But  this  level  was  terribly  low.  The  children 
of  the  nobility  were  brought  up  by  serfs  or  by 
foreign  tutors.  We  can  guess  what  they  had  to 
learn  from  the  former ; as  for  the  latter,  we  can 
guess  also  what  sort  of  people  they  were — French 
for  the  most  part — who  at  that  time  entered  upon 
the  career  of  private  tutor  in  the  far-distant 
Russia.  Mehee  de  la  Touche  tells  the  story 
of  the  governess  who,  being  asked  by  the 
parents  of  her  future  charge  if  she  spoke  French, 
replied:  ' Sacridid ! I should  think  so;  it  is  my 
own  language.’  She  was  engaged  without  further 
question;  only,  the  name  of  Mile.  Sacredie  always 
stuck  to  her. 

^ As  ever,  Catherine  would  do  everything,  and 
everything  at  once.  I n the  second  year  of  herp'eign, 
“-Betzky,  the  collaborator  whom  she  picked  out  for 
this  pirrpese,.,X£jcdwed''the  order  to  set  to  work 
on  a project,  which  included  a whole  new  system 
of  education,  able  to  serve-  as  basis  for  a number 
of  scholastic  institutions,  to  be  set  on  foot  sub- 
sequently. The  result  was  the  publication,  in 
1764,  of  General  Regulations  for  the  Education 
of  Children  of  both  Sexes.  Betzky  has  admitted 
that  the  ideas  developed  in  this  document  were 
those  of  the  Empress  herself.  They  must  be 
considered  bold,  if  not  original : they  are  more 
or  less  those  of  Locke  and  of  Jean-Jacques 
Rousseau  ; those  of  Jean-Jacques  especially,  little 
as  Catherine  generally  professed  to  think  of  his 
genius.  It  was  a project  for  fabricating  men  and 
women  not  in  the  least  like  any  that  had  ever 
been  seen  in  Russia,  taken  radically  away  from 
the  soil  which  had  given  them  birth,  transplanted 
from  their  natural  surroundings,  and  developed 


CATHERINE  AND  EDUCATION  363 

in  an  atmosphere  artificially  prepared  for  the 
culture  to  whicli  they  were  destined.  They  were 
to  be  taken  at  the  age  of  five  or  six,  kept  strictly 
shut  up,  and  removed  from  all  outside  influence, 
to  the  age  of  twenty  or  more. 

Catherine  seriously  thought  of  carrying  out  this 
programme.  If  this  was  not  done,  at  least  within 
the  desired  limits  and  proportions — that  is  to  say, 
throughout  the  whole  length  and  breadth  of  public 
education — it  is  because  she  encountered  great 
difficulties  on  the  way,  and  that  here,  too,  patience, 
firmness  of  resolution,  and  continuity  of  effort 
were  once  again  lacking  to  her  will.  Difficulties 
arose  at  the  outset  from  the  opposition  that  she 
met  with,  not  only  in  her  immediate  surroundings 
— but  little  enlightened  itself,  as  a rule,  and  con- 
sequently indifferent,  if  not  hostile,  to  the  develop- 
ment of  any  programme  whatever,  relating  to  this 
order  of  ideas — but  also  among  even  the  most 
open-minded  and  cultivated  of  those  to  whom  she 
could  appeal,  outside  the  official  sphere,  for  some 
amount  of  help  in  her  enterprise.  The  ideas  of 
Jean-Jacques  were  by  no  means  those  of  Novikof, 
for  example,  nor  those  of  the  circle  in  which  the 
influence  of  the  publicist  was  exercised.  Now, 
this  was  perhaps  the  most  intelligent  circle  in 
the  Russia  of  that  time.  Novikof  had  pedagogic 
views  of  his  own,  entirely  different,  giving  a large 
place,  in  national  education,  to  local  feeling,  to 
custom,  tradition,  to  the  ways  of  the  country, 
averse  from  the  introduction  of.  foreign  elements. 
As  for  the  officials  at  Catherine’s  disposal,  they 
were  inclined  to  ask  whether  public  education, 
and  schools  in  general,  were  of  any  real  value. 
In  1785,  atone  of  the  Empress’s  evening  recep- 


364  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

tions,  as  Patiomkine  was  discussing  the  necessity 
of  starting  a large  number  of  universities  through- 
out Russia,  Zavadofski,  the  director  of  the 
recently  established  normal  schools,  observed  that 
the  University  of  Moscow  had  not  produced  a 
single  distinguished  man  in  science  during  the 
whole  of  its  existence.  ‘ That,’  replied  Patiom- 
kine, ‘ is  because  you  hindered  me  from  continuing 
my  studies  by  turning  me  out.’  This  was  a fact ; 
the  favourite  had  been  sent  down,  and  obliofed  to 
enter  a regiment,  which  was  the  beginning  of  his 
fortune.  He  forgot  to  say  that  his  idleness  and 
misconduct  had  quite  justified  the  punishment. 
Catherine  thereupon  declared  that  she  herself 
owed  much  to  the  university  education  : since  she 
had  had  in  her  service  some  men  who  had  carried 
out  their  studies  at  Moscow,  she  had  been  able  to 
make  out  something  in  the  memoranda  and  other 
official  documents  presented  for  her  signature. 
It  was  after  this  conversation  that  s^  decided 
upon  founding  the  Universities-''T5r'^jni-Nov- 
gorod,  and  lekatierinoslaf.  But  the'  latter  town 
had  itself  yet  to  be  founded. 

Another  difficulty  presented  itself  in  the  selec- 
tion of  a staff  of  teachers.  In  organising  the 
establishment  of  the  corps  of  cadets,  Betzky 
took  for  director  a former  prompter  from  the 
French  theatre,  and  for  inspector  of  classes  a 
former  valet  de  chambre  of  Catherine’s  mother. 
One  of  the  professors,  P'aber,  had  been  a lackey 
in  the  service  of  two  other  French  professors, 
Pictet  and  Mallet,  whose  colleague  he  now 
became.  Pictet  and  Mallet  having  ventured  to 
protest,  Betzky  contented  himself  with  giving 
Faber  the  rank  of  lieutenant  in  the  Russian  army. 


CATHERINE  AND  EDUCATION  365 

which,  it  appeared,  put  things  straight.  The 
master  of  police  in  the  establishment  was  a 
certain  Lascaris,  a mere  adventurer,  who  after- 
wards became  director,  with  the  title  of  lieutenant- 
colonel. 

The  greatest  liberty  reigned  in  this  school,  if 
w'e  may  believe  the  testimony  of  Bobrinski,  the 
natural  son  of  Catherine,  who  was  brought  up 
there:  the  ideas  of  Jean-Jacques  were  liberally 
applied. 

Catherine  was  thus  forced  to  complicate  her 
programme  of  scholastic  organisation  ; she  had 
first  to  think  of  trajMiiig4ke  ffm^rs~{or  the  future 
pupils  that  she  meant  to  intrust  to  them.  She 
sent  to^xford,  to_^^-AcadeilT^of  Turin,  to  the 
schools  irTGefrhahy,  young  men'Who  were  to  be 
prepared  for  the  delicate  duties  of  professorship. 
But  many  other  things  were  yet  wanting  for  the 
founding  of  national  schools,  and  first,  to  know 
how  to  set  about  it.  She  confessed  it  naively  to 
C^mm — 

U Listen  a moment,  my  philosophical  friends ; 
you  would  be  charming,  adorable,  if  you  would 
have  the  charity  to  map  out  a plan  of  study  for 
young  people,  from  A B C to  the  University.  1 
am  told  that  there  should  be  three  kinds  of 
schools,  and  I who  have  not  studied  and  have  not 
been  at  Paris,  I have  neither  knowledge  nor 
insight  in  the  matter,  and  consequently  I know 
not  what  should  be  learnt,  nor  even  what  can  be 
learnt,  nor  where  one  is  to  find  out  unless  from 
you.  I am  very  much  concerned  about  an  idea 
for  a university  and  its  management,  a gym- 
nasium and  its  management,  a school  and  its 
management,  j 


366 


CATHERINE  IT.  OF  RUSSIA 


She  intimates,  however,  the  means  by  which 
she  intends  to  get  over  the  difficulty  for  the 
present — 

‘ Until  you  accede  or  do  not  accede  to  my 
request,  I know  what  I shall  do  : I shall  hunt 
through  the  EncyclopMie.  Oh,  I shall  be 
certain  to  haul  out  what  I want  and  what  I don’t 
want.’ 

The  philosophers  remaining  silent,  it  is  the 
Encyclopedic  that  has  to  afford  matter  for  the 
conceptions  to  which  the  universal  genius  of 
Catherine  betakes  itself,  in  this  new  order  of 
things. 


II 

These  conceptions  were  destined  to  remain 
sterile,  with  one  exception.  Some  scholastic 
establishments  date,  it  is  true,  from  her  reign. 
But  these  are  special  schools,  that,  for  instance, 
of  artillery  and  engineering,  founded  in  1762, 
/the  school  of  commerce  founded  in  1772,  the 
academy  of  mines  in  1773,  the  academy  of 
Beaux  Arts  in  1774.  In  1781  there  was  even  an 
attempt  at  popular  schools,  and  in  1783  Jankovitz 
was  summoned  for  the  foundation  of  normal 
schools,  after  the  order  of  those  in  Austria.  Ten 
were  at  once  founded  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  the 
following  year  they  had  1000  pupils.  Catherine 
was  full  of  enthusiasm  on  the  subject,  and  wrote 
to  Grimm  : ‘ Do  you  know  that  we  are  really 
doing  fine  things,  and  getting  along  famously, 
not  in  the  air  (for,  from  dread  of  fire,  I have 
expressly  forbidden  aerostatic  globes)  but  ventre 
d terre,  for  the  enlightening  of  the  people.’ 


CATHERINE  AND  EDUCATION  367 

In  reply  Grimm  conferred  upon  the  sovereign  the 
title  of  Universal-normalschulmeisterin. 

But  all  that  was  not  the  national  education 
according  to  Locke  and  J ean-J  acques,  of  which 
the  Empress  dreamed,  and  which  ought,  she 
thought,  to  regenerate  Russia.  The  dream  was 
unrealised  save  in  the  establishment  founded  in 
1764  for  the  education  of  girls,  in  the  famous 
SmoInyi_  Monastyr,  which  was  one  of  the  favourite 
achiei:^ements  of  Catherine,  the  one  among  all 
others  to  which  she  was  most  constant ; the 
majestic  edifice  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva  is  even 
now  the  admiration  of  travellers  from  the  West. 
Demoiselles  nobles  are  still  educated  there  in  the 
most  careful  manner,  and  but  lately  the  two 
daughters  of  the  Prince  of  Montenegro  grew  up 
within  these  walls,  where  so  often  the  Empress 
was  to  be  seen  surrounded  by  her  pupils, 
following  their  studies  with  solicitude,  and  in- 
teresting herself  in  their  recreations.  Rigorous 
seclusion,  during  twelve  years,  the  removal  of  all 
outside  influences,  even  family  influences,  even 
religious  influences  : all  the  details  of  the  plan 
sketched  out  in  1764  were  to  be  found  in  the 
scheme  of  this  institution.  No  one  was  allowed 
to  go  out,  except  to  go  to  the  court,  whither  the 
Empress  frequently  summoned  the  scholars 
whom  she  had  particularly  noticed.  There  were 
hardly  any  .holidays.  Every  six  weeks  the 
parents  were  admitted  to  see  their  children,  and 
to  witness  a public  examination  which  showed 
what  progress  they  were  making.  That  was  all. 
The  lay  schoolmistresses  never  spoke  to  their 
pupils  of  God  or  the  Devil  save  in  general  terms, 
without  any  attempt  at  proselytism  ; the  clergy 


368 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


were  admitted  to  this  singular  monastery,  and 
to  some  part  in  the  instruction  given  there,  but 
within  prescribed  limits.  It  was  a convent  having 
as  abbess  a philosophising  Empress ; monastic 
life  Avith  a door  of  communication  opening  on  the 
splendours  and  seductions  of  the  imperial  palace  ; 
St.  Cyi;,  minus  Christianity,  and  not  merely  the 
severe  ^nd  gloomy  Christianity  of  Madame  de 
Maintenis^n,  but  Christianity  in  general.  A long- 
bearded  ope  was  sometimes  seen  there ; the 
Christian  'peaching  was  absejiU— -The  very  plan 
of  the  estabhshmem;  was  ^^en  to  it,  for  could 
anything  b«  more  absolutely  contrary  to  its  spirit 
than  the  separation  into  two  divisions  of  the 
inmates,  kepj;  absolutely  apart  and  distinct,  by 
the  very  first  \principles  of  the  undertaking.^  In 
this  establishr^ent,  in  which  there  is  room  for  500 
pupils,  there  are  daughters  of  the  nobility  and  of 
the  middle  clisses.  They  have  nothing  in  com- 
mon one  with  ^another,  either  in  mode  of  living, 
of  education,  o|r  even  of  costume.  The  former 
are  indulged  with  fine  clothes,  the  refinements  of 
the  toilette,  of  ;he  table,  and  of  accommodation,  a 
course  of  study  in  which  the  arts  of  pleasing  hold 
a large  place  ; the  latter  have  to  put  up  with  a 
coarse  kind  of  (clothing,  with  simple  dishes,  with 
lessons  in  se\j^ing,  washing,  and  cooking.  The 
colour  of  the  dothes  is  the  same,  but  the  ‘ corset  ’ 
takes  the  place  of  the  elegant  ‘fourreau,’and  is  com- 
pleted by  a pinafore,  which  denotes  the  humility 
of  their  coi/dition.  All  that  is  Pagan,  utterly 
Pagan,  as  the  plan  of  the  teaching  itself,  into 
which  Diderot  would  have  wished  to  introduce 
thorough  instruction  in  anatomy  ; as  are  the  sallies 
into  the  frivolous  and  corrupt  world  of  the  court. 


\ 


CA  THERINE  AND  EDUCA  TION  369 

As  it  has  been  noted,  Catherine  is  the  first 
Russian  sovereign  to  give  attention  to  the  educa- 
tion of  women.  She  gave  to  her  undertaking 
all  the  breadth  and  magnificence  that  we  find  in 
all  her  creations,  and  that  would  seem  to  be  in 
some  sort  the  natural  emanation  of  herself.  But 
she  also  put  to  proof  principles  which  she  had 
not  sufficiently  gauged.  The  germs  that  she  thus 
introduced  into  the  intellectual  and  moral  develop- 
ment of  her  sex  still  bear  fruit  in  Russia,  not 
perhaps  always  for  the  best. 

We  have  had  means  of  judging,  in  the 
Empress’s  confidences  to  Grimm,  what  point  she 
had  reached,  after  fifteen  years  of  sway,  in  her 
own  studies  and  notions  in  regard  to  this  delicate 
and  difficult  matter : she  obviously  went  right 
ahead,  picking  up  principles  and  ideas  for  her 
plans  of  education  as  she  picked  up  soldiers  for 
her  plans  of  conquest.  In  the  very  numerous 
writings  on  educational  subjects  that  she  has 
handed  down  to  posterity,  some  ideas  and  in- 
genious intuitions  alternate  with  the  most  para- 
doxical assertions,  as,  for  example,  that  ‘ the 
study  of  languages  and  sciences  ought  to  hold 
the  last  place  in  education,’  or  that  ‘the  health  of 
the  body  and  the  inclination  of  the  mind  towards 
what  is  good  make  up  the  whole  of  education.’ 
The  idea  of  enlightened  despotism,  coming  out 
in  the  blind  subjection  of  pupil  to  master,  accords 
as  best  it  can  with  that  of  the  progressive  develop- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  independence,  in  which  one 
is  to  endeavour  to  fortify  the  child’s  mind.  As 
a whole  it  is  almost  incoherent.  Catherine  saw 
clearly  that  the  way  in  which  the  youth  of 
Russia  in  her  time  was  educated  was  useless 


370  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

alike  to  them  and  to  Russia,  and  she  admitted 
the  necessity  of  a change  of  system,  as  an  abso- 
lute necessity  of  national  progress.  It  was  only 
on  this  one  point  that  she  had  quite  made  up 
her  mind.  At  her  time,  and  in  the  place  that 
she  occupied,  coming  after  Ann,  Elizabeth,  and 
Peter  III.,  it  was  something  already  to  have  made 
this  discovery  and  cherished  this  conviction.  But 
the  glory  of  having  been  the  founder  of  the 
national  education  was  not  to  be  hers.  The 
judgment  of  posterity  has  given  this  title  to  a 
name  more  humble  than  hers,  that  of  a man 
whom  she  treated  as  a foe,  to  whom  she  gave 
a dungeon  and  a chain  as  the  reward  of  the 
labours  of  which  Russia  reaps  the  benefit  to-day. 
It  was  in  the  educational  establishments  founded 
at  St.  Petersburg  by  Novikof  that  the  programme 
of  studies  and  the  plan  of  scholastic  organisation 
now  in  force  throughout  the  empire  were  really 
mapped  out. 


BOOK  IV 


INNER  ASPECTS 
CHAPTER  I 

HOME  LIFE 

I 

We  shall  try  to  give  an  account  of  a single  day 
in  the  life  of  the  Empress,  an  ordinary  day,  one 
of  those  which  show  the  habitual  course  of  her 
existence.  We  are  in  winter,  let  us  suppose, 
and  about  the  middle  of  the  reign,  in  1785  for 
example,  a year  of  peace.  The  Empress  occu- 
pies the  Zimnyi  Dvariets,  the  Winter  Palace. 
The  private  suite  of  rooms,  on  the  first  story, 
is  not  very  large.  On  mounting  the  little  stair- 
case, we  come  to  a room  in  which  a table, 
covered  with  writing  materials,  awaits  the  secre- 
taries and  others  employed  in  her  Majesty’s 
immediate  service.  We  pass  through  this  first 
room,  and  enter  the  dressing-room,  whose  win- 
dows look  out  on  the  square  of  the  palace. 
It  is  there  that  the  Empress’s  hair  is  dressed 
before  a small  circle  of  intimate  friends  and  high 
functionaries,  admitted  to  the  early  morning 
audiences.  It  is  the  petit  lever  of  her  Majesty. 
There  is  no  grand  lever.  Two  doors  open 

371 

u -- 


372  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

before  us : one  leads  to  the  Diamond  Room,  the 
other  to  the  bedroom.  The  bedroom  communi- 
cates at  the  back  with  a private  dressing-room, 
and  at  the  left  with  a work-room  opening  on  the 
Mirror  Room,  and  the  other  reception-rooms. 

It  is  six.  n’f;1ppk.Jja  the  morning,  the  hour  at 
which  the  Empress  rises.  By  the  side  of  her 
bed  is  a basket,  where,  on  a couch  of  pink  satin 
ornamented  with  lace,  sleeps  a whole  family  of 
little  dogs,  Catherine’s  inseparable  companions. 
They  are  English  greyhounds.  In  1770  Dr. 
Dimsdale,  whom  the  Empress,  as  we  know,  sum- 
moned from  London  to  inoculate  her,  brought 
over  for  her  a couple  of  these  creatures.  They 
have  increased  and  multiplied,  so  that  one  sees 
a greyhound  in  all  the  aristocratic  houses  in  St. 
Petersburg.  The  Empress  always  has  half  a 
dozen  about  her,  sometimes  more.  The  bell- 
ringer of  the  palace  having  rung  the  hour  of 
six,  Maria  Savichna  Pierekousihina,  the  head 
femme  de  chambre  of  her  Majesty,  enters  the 
bedroom.  Eormerly  Catherine  had  no  one  about 
her  at  this  time ; she  rose  by  herself,  and  in 
winter  even  lit  her  own  fire.  Time  has  changed 
this  habit.  But  to-day  her  Majbsty  is  late 

in  waking.  The  night  before  she  was  not  so 
early  as  usual  in  going  to  bed ; an  interesting 
conversation  detained  her  at  the  Hermitage 
after  ten.  Maria  Savichna  coolly  finds  a divan, 
opposite  to  the  sovereign’s  bed,  lies  down  on  it, 
and  seizes  the  happy  chance  of  a little  additional 
nap.  But  now  the  Empress  awakens.  She  gets 
up,  and  in  her  turn  awakens  the  slumbering 
Maria  Savichna.  She  goes  into  her  dressiaff-— 
room.  A little  warm  water  to  rinse  out  her 


HOME  LIFE 


373 


mouth,  and  a little  ice  to  rub  over  her  face,  are 
all  that  her  Majesty  is  in  need  of  for  the 
moment.  But  where  is  Catherine  Ivanovna, 
the  young  Calmuck,  whose  business  it  is  to  have 
these  things  ready  ? She  is  always  behind  her 
time,  this  Catherine  Ivanovna ! What,  already 
a quarter  past  six ! The  Empress  has  a move- 
ment of  impatience  ; she  taps  her  foot  nervously 
on  the  ground.  Here  she  is  at  last : beware  of 
her  Majesty’s  wrath ! Catherine  snatches  from 
her  hands  the  silver-gilt  ewer,  and,  hastily 
making  use  of  it,  she  apostrophises  the  lazy 

girl— 

‘ What  are  you  thinking  about,  Catherine 
Ivanovna.?  Do  you  think  you  will  always  be 
able  to  go  on  like  this  ? One  day  you  will  get 
married,  you  will  leave  my  service,  and  your 
husband,  be  sure,  will  not  be  like  me.  He  will 
be  much  more  particular.  Think  of  your  future, 
Catherine  Ivanovna!’ 

That  is  all,  and  that  is  repeated  day  after  day. 
Meanwhile  the  Empress  goes  briskly  into  her 
work-room,  followed  by  her  dogs,  who  have 
waited  till  now  to  leave  their  luxurious  bed. 
It  is  time  for  dejeuner.  The  coffee  is  waiting: 
good.  Is  it  strong  enough  .?  It  needs  a pound 
of  coffee  for  the  five  cups  that  the  Empress  is 
accustomed  to  take.  One  day  one  of  her  secre- 
taries, a certain  Kozmine,  coming  to  make  his 
report,  is  benumbed  with  the  cold.  The  Empress 
rings.  ‘A  cup  of  coffee  for  the  poor  shivering 
wretch ! ’ She  insists  on  his  swallowing  the 
steaming  cup  at  a draught.  But  what  is  the 
matter  ? He  is  unwell  ; he  has  palpitations  of 
the  heart.  He  has  had  the  coffee  that  is  pre- 


374 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


pared  for  her  Majesty,  and  which  she  alone 
can  drink.  It  never  occurred  to  any  one  that 
the  cup  was  for  the  secretary  ; who  could  imagine 
that  her  Majesty  would  share  her  ddjeimer  with 
a mere  tchinovnik  like  him  ? Generally  Catherine 
only  shares  her  dejeuner  with  her  dogs.  The 
imperial  coffee  is  not  in  their  line  ; but  there  is 
thick  cream,  biscuits,  sugar.  The  whole  con- 
tents of  the  sugar-basin  go  to  them,  and  the 
biscuits  too. 

Her  Majesty  has  now  no  further  need  of  any 
one.  If  her  dogs  want  to  go  out,  she  opens  the 
door  for  them  herself.  She  wishes  to  be  alone, 
and  to  give  herself  entirely  to  her  work  or 
cnrjespondj&n^-~r(tt~nifle--m=^^  But  where  is 
her  favourite  snuff-box,  which  should  always  be 
on  her  work-table?  A portrait  of  Peter  the 
Great,  which  is  on  the  cover,  is  there,  she  says,  to 
/remind  her  that  she  has  to  continue  the  work  of 
the  Great  Czar.  Catherine  takes  a great  deal  of 
snuff.  But  she  never  carries  a snuff-box.  There 
must  be  one  at  hand  in  every  corner  of  her 
palace.  She  uses  only  a particular  kind  of 
tobacco  that  is  specially  grown  for  her  in  her 
garden  of  Tzarskoie-Sielo.  When  writing,  she 
needs  to  take  snuff  almost  all  the  time.  She 
rings.  ‘Will  you  kindly,’  she  says  to  a valet  de 
chambre  who  enters,  ‘look  for  my  snuff-box.’ 
‘Veuillez,’  ‘ Prenez  la  peine  de,’  are  formulas 
that  she  invariably  uses  in  speaking  to  the 
people  about  her,  however  humble. 

At  nine. precisely  Catherine  returns  to  her 

bedroom.  It  is  there  that  she  receives  the 
officials  who  come  to  give  in  their  report.  The 
Refect  of  police  enters  first.  Her  Majesty  is 


HOME  LIFE 


37<i 

dressed,  at  this  moment,  in  a white  dressing- 
gown  of  £'ros  de  Tours,  with  large  folds.  She 
wears  a cap  of  white  crape,  which  the  vigour  of 
her  work  or  the  excitement  of  her  conversation 
with  Grimm  has  accidentally  pushed  aside,  to 
right  or  left.  Her  complexion  is  fresh,  her  eyes 
bright ; nevertheless,  in  reading  the  papers  pre- 
sented for  her  signature,  she  puts  on  glasses. 

‘ You  don’t  need  this,  do  you  ? ’ she  says  to  her 
secretary  Gribofski.  ‘ How  old  are  you  ? ’ 

‘ Twenty-six.’ 

‘You  have  not  had  time,  as  I have,  to  lose 
your  sight  in  the  service  of  the  empire.’ 

On  entering,  Gribofski  has  bowed  very  low. 
The  Empress  has  replied  with  a slight  inclination 
of  the  head,  after  which,  with  an  amiable  smile, 
she  lends  her  hand  to  the  secretary.  At  this 
moment  Gribofski  can  notice  that  a front  tooth 
is  missing  from  the  otherwise  well-furnished 
mouth  of  the  sovereign.  On  stooping  to  kiss 
the  imperial  hand,  a white,  plump  hand,  he  has 
felt  a pressure  of  this  august  hand,  and  he  has 
heard  the  words  ‘sit  down,’  which  summon  him 
to  his  task.  It  is  a task  often  interrupted. 
Ministers,  generals,  high  officials,  who  have  been 
granted  audiences,  are  announced,  and  the  Em- 
press is  often  considerate  enough  not  to  make 
them  wait.  Now  General  Souvarof  is  ushered 
in.  Without  looking  at  the  Empress,  he  marches 
with  his  automatic  soldier’s  step  straight  to  the 
right,  where,  in  a corner,  a lamp  is  always  kept 
burning  before  the  image  of  Our  Lady  of  Kasan. 
He  stops  short  before  the  icone,  and  bends  three 
times,  striking  the  ground  with  his  forehead. 
Having  accomplished  this  rite,  he  turns  sharply. 


376  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

as  if  he  were  at  drill,  takes  a few  steps  forward, 
and  a fourth  genuflection  brings  him  to  the 
sovereign’s  feet 

‘ Pray,  are  you  not  ashamed  ? ’ she  murmurs. 
She  makes  him  sit  down,  addresses  two  or  three 
questions  to  him,  one  after  another,  to  which  he 
replies  in  the  tone  of  a trooper  catechised  by  a 
corporal,  and  she  dismisses  him  after  two  minutes. 
Other  personages  arrive.  But,  all  at  once,  some 
one  whispers  a word  in  the  Empress’s  ear,  she 
gives  a sign  of  the  head,  and  all  retire  : it  is 
the  favourite,  Patiomkine,  Lanskoi,  or  Mamonof, 
who  wishes  to  come  in.  For  him  her  Majesty  is 
always  visible,  and,  when  he  comes,  every  one 
else  goes. 

This  goes  on  till  mid-day,  afterwards  till  one 
o’clock  when  the  dinner-hour  has  been  changed 
from  one  to  two.  After  dismissing  her  secretary, 
the  Empress  retires  to  her  private  dressing-room, 
where  she  makes  a complete.jtoilette,  dresses, 
and  has  her  hair  dressed  by  her  Kdz- 

lof.  Her  costume,  except  on  great  occasions,  is 
extremely  simple : a loose  and  open  gown,  a la 
Moldave,  with  double  sleeves ; the  under  ones  of 
a light  material,  plaited  to  the  wrist,  the  over 
ones  very  long,  of  similar  material  to  the  skirt, 
and  caught  up  at  the  back.  The  gown  is  of 
violet  or  grey  silk ; there  are  no  jewels,  no 
indication  of  supreme  rank ; comfortable  shoes 
with  very  low  heels.  Catherine  puls-fto  coquetoiiL.. 
in  anything  but  the  arrangement  of  her  hair  : she 
wears  her  hair  drawn  back,  showing  the  whole  of 
the  forehead,  the  development  of  which  she  per- 
haps likes  to  emphasise.  Her  hair  is  long  and 
heavy ; when  she  sits  before  her  toilet-table, 


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377 


it  touches  the  ground.  On  state  occasions  a 
diadem  crowns  the  cunning  edifice  raised  by  the 
skilful  hands  of  Kozlof ; but  then  the  silk  dress 
is  replaced  by  red  velvet,  and  the  costume  thus 
transformed,  though  it  keeps  much  the  same  easy 
character,  takes  the  name  of  ‘ the  Russian  dress.’ 
It  is  obligatory  at  court,  despite  the  heavy 
sacrifices  it  imposes  on  the  young  women,  who 
are  distressed  at  not  being  got  up  in  the  Paris 
fashion. 

Her  private  toilette  over,  Catherine  goes  into 
the  official  toilette-chamber,  where  she  finishes 
dressing.  It  is  the  petit  lever.  The  number  of 
those  who  have  the  privilege  of  being  present  is 
limited ; but  in  spite  of  this,  the  room  is  full. 
There  are,  first,  the  Empress’s  grandchildren,  who 
are  invariably  brought  in;  then  the  favourite ; with 
a few  friends,  such  as  Leon  Narychkine.  There 
is  also  the  court  fool,  who  is  a person  of  much 
wisdom  : Matrena  Danilevna  holds  this  office,  to 
which  she  adds  that  of  tale-bearer.  She  diverts 
the  sovereign  by  her  jokes,  an(^  Catherine  is 
kept  au  courant  Gf--EtlT-that'Ts'“^Tng  on  at  court 
and  in  the  city,  the  scandals  in  the  air  since  the 
night  before,  and  even  the  best  kept  family- 
secrets.  Matrena  Danilevna  has  an  eye  and  ear 
everywhere,  and  admirable  police  instincts.  One 
day  she  is  very  severe  upon  Ryleief,  the  chief 
of  imperial  police.  Catherine  summons  him  to 
her,  and  advises  him  in  a friendly  manner  to  send 
some  fat  fowls  and  geese  to  Matrena  Danilevna, 
who  seems  to  be  in  want  of  them  in  order  to  duly 
celebrate  the  Prasdnik  (Easter).  A week  passes. 
‘And  Ryleief?’  asks  the  Empress  of  the  worthy 
gossip,  who  is  dishing  up  to  her  the  string  of 


378  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

daily  tattle.  Matrena  Danilevna  has  nothing 
but  praise  for  the  official,  for  whom,  a week 
before,  she  had  nothing  but  abuse,  ‘ Ah ! ah ! ’ 
interrupts  Catherine.  ‘ I see  what  it  is  : he  has 
sent  you  some  fowls  and  geese.’ 

But  now  the  Empress  is  seated  before  her 
toilet- table,  a superb  table  in  massive  gold.  Her 
four  femmes  de  chambre  approach  her.  They  are 
four  old  maids,  whom  she  has  had  in  her  service 
since  her  accession  to  the  throne,  and  who  have 
passed  their  heyday  in  her  service.  They  were 
all  of  them  very  plain.  One  of  them,  Maria 
Stiepanovna  Aleksieievna,  paints  her  face  in  the 
most  preposterous  way.  They  are  all  Russian. 
To  give  her  subjects  an  example  that  they  have 
never,  up  to  the  present  time,  followed,  Catherine 
has  absolutely  none  but  Russian  servants.  Now 
Maria  Stiepanovna  presents  to  the  sovereign  a 
piece  of  ice  which  she  rubs  over  her  cheeks  in 
public,  to  prove  that  she  herself  has  no  recourse 
to  the  coquettish  tricks  employed  by  her  femme  de 
chambre ; the  old  Palakoutchi  places  on  her  head 
a little  crape  cap,  this. time  carefully  adjusted; 
the  two  Zvieref  sisters  add  some  pins,  and  her 
Majesty’s  toilette  is  over.  The  whole  ceremony 
has  lasted  about  ten  minutes,  during  which 
Catherine  has  spoken  to  several  of  those  present. 

And  now  to  table.  Up  to  the  time  of  the 
Swedish  war,  mnner  wa5^  one  o’clock.  At  that 
time  the  pressing  occupations  with  which  Cathe- 
rine was  burdened  made  her  put  off  the  hour  of 
dinner,  which  remained  afterwards  at  two  o’clock. 
On  ordinary  days  there  are  generally  about  a 
dozen  guests  at  her  Majesty’s  table  : the  favourite 
first  of  all,  as  a matter  of  course,  a few  friends, 


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379 


Count  Razoumofski,  Field- Marshal  Prince  Galit- 
zine,  Prince  Patiomkine,  the  Count  of  Anhalt, 
the  two  Narychkine  brothers,  the  General 
Aide-de-Camp,  Count  Tchernichef,  Count  Stro- 
gonof,  Prince  Bariatinski,  Countess  Bruce,  Coun- 
tess Branicka,  Princess  Dachkof,  and,  later  on, 
during  the  last  years  of  the  reign,  the  General 
Aide-de-Camp  Passek,  Count  Strogonof,  the 
Maid  of  Honour  Protassof,  Vice-Admiral  Ribas, 
the  General  Governor  of  the  Polish  provinces, 
Toutolmine,  and  two  of  the  French  emigres, 
Comte  Esterhazy  and  the  Marquis  de  Lambert. 
Dinner  lasts  about  an  hour.  The  dishes 
are  very  simple.  Catherine  cares  nothing 
about  elaborate  cookery.  Her  favourite  dish  is 
boiled  beef  witfr'-saTted  cucumber;  her  drink, 
water  with  gooseberry  sirup.  Later,  on  the 
advice  of  physicians,  she  takes  a glass  of  Madeira 
or  Rhine  wine.  For  desert,  some  fr'dt,  apples  or 
cherries  by  preference.  Among  her  cooks  there 
is  one  who  cooks  abominably.  For  years  she 
has  never  noticed  it.  When  it  has  been  pointed 
out  to  her,  she  has  refused  to  dismiss  the 
man,  saying  that  he  has  been  in  her  service 
too  long.  She  merely  inquires  when  his  turn 
comes,  and  then  says  on  sitting  down  to 
table ; ‘ Ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  must  exer- 
cise our  patience ; we  have  a week’s  fast  before 
us.’ 

Twice  a week  her  Majesty  keeps  jour  maigre, 
and  on  these  occasions  she  has  only  two  or  three 
people  to  dinner. 

It  should  be  added  that  her  guests  are  not 
obliged  to  go  beyond  the  palace  to  find  better 
cheer.  Her  Majesty’s  table  is  poorly  served, 


38o 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


and  Catherine  sees  that  the  expenses  are  kept 
down ; but  the  table  of  the  favourite,  Zoubof, 
that  of  his  protector,  the  Count  N.  J.  Saltykof, 
and  that  of  the  Countess  Branicka,  Patiomkine’s 
niece,  which  are  all  three  paid  for  out  of  the 
imperial  treasury,  come  to  400  roubles  (2000 
francs)  a day  in  1792,  without  counting  the 
drink,  .which,  with  tea,  coffee,  and  chocolate, 
comes  to  200  roubles  a day  extra. 

After  dinner  there  are  a iejvminutes’  con- 
versation ; then  every  one  retiresr" — GatKerine 
takes  up  her  embroidery,  at  which  she  is  very 
skilful,  and  BeJtzky  reads  aloud  to  her.  When 
petzky,  now  growing'  old,  begins  to  lose  his 
|sight,  she  does  not  have  him  replaced ; she  reads 
herself,  with  the  aid  of  her  glasses.  An  hour 
passes  in  this  way,  and  now  her  secretary  is 
announced : twice  a week  he  comes  with  the 
courier,  who  is  immediately  despoiled.  The 
other  days,  it  is  the  officials  who  come,  one 
after  another,  handing  in  reports,  demanding 
instructions.  All  the  while  the  Empress  gener- 
ally has  with  her  her  grandchildren,  with  whom 
she  plays  in  the  intervals  of  her  business.  By 
four  o’clock  she  has  well  earned  the  rest  and 
recreation  which  she  now  allows  herself.  She 
betakes  herself  to  her  favourite  Hermitage, 
through  the  long  gallery  which  connects  it  with 
the  Winter  Palace.  Lanskoi  or  Mamonof  or 
Zoubof  accompanies  her.  She  examines  her  new 
collections,  sees  to  their  arrangement,  has  a game 
of  billiards,  and  sometimes  amuses  herself  with 
turning  ivory.  At'STX^^ftlt^2k^*■sh^^  to  the 
recepTion^boms.  Slowly  she  makes  the  round  of 
her  salons,  giving  an  amiable  word  here  and 


HOME  LIFE 


381 

there,  and  then  sits  down  to  her  whist-table. 
She  plays  whjsfc~-”a±~  ten  roubles  the  rubber, 
rocambole,  piquet,  and  Boston ; always  very 
cheaply.  Her  usual  partners  are  Count  Razou- 
mofski,  Field-Marshal  Count  Tchernichef,  Field- 
Marshal  Prince  Galitzine,  Count  Bruce,  Count 
Strogonof,  Prince  Orlof,  Prince  Viazemski,  and 
the  foreign  ministers.  Catherine  gives  _,the  pre- 
ference to  the  two  first,  because  they  play  well, 
and  do  not  try  to  make  her  gain.  She  herself 
plays  her  very  best.  The  chamberlaii.'Tchert- 
kof,  whom  she  sometimes  admits  to  make  up 
a party,  generally  gets  in  a rage,  reproaches  her 
with  not  playing  fair,  and,  sometimes,  in  his 
vexation,  throws  the  cards  in  her  Majesty’s  face. 
She  never  loses  her  temper,  defends  her  way 
of  playing  as  best  she  can,  appealing  to  the 
bystanders.  One  day  she  calls  on  the  two 
French  exiles,  who  are  of  the  party,  to  give 
their  opinion. 

‘Fine  arbiters!’  cries  Tchertkof.  ‘They  be- 
trayed their  own  king  I ’ 

This  time  Catherine  has  to  impose  silence  on 
the  too  reckless  player.  One  sees  that  she  has 
no  easy  task  to  maintain  at  her  court  the  tone 
that  should  reign  there.  Another  time,  as  she 
is  playing  at  whist  with  Count  Strogonof,  General 
Arharof,  and  Count  Stackelberg,  Strogonof  con- 
stantly loses.  At  last,  unable  to  contain  himself 
any  longer,  and  forgetting  all  the  convenances,  he 
rises  in  a heat,  leaves  the  party  without  finishing 
it,  and,  with  purple  cheeks,  begins  to  stride  to 
and  fro  in  the  Diamond  Room,  giving  free  course 
to  his  irritation — 

‘ I shall  lose  all  my  money  I As  for  you,  it 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


382 

makes  no  difference  for  you  if  you  lose.  But 
as  for  me,  I shall  soon  be  in  destitution.’ 

Thinking  that  this  is  going  too  far,  Arharof 
would  interfere,  but  Catherine  stops  him  : ‘ Let 
him  be ! He  has  been  just  like  that  for  fifty 
years.  You  will  never  change  him,  no  more 
shall  I.’ 

The  play  invariably  stopg^taea.xLclock.  Her 
Majesty  then  retires.  ETxcept  on  reception-days, 
there  is  no  supper,  and  even  on  these  days 
Catherine  only  sits  down  to  table  as  a matter 
of  form.  Returning  to  her  private  suite  of  rooms, 
she  goes  immediately  to  her  bedroom,  drinks 
a large  glass  of  boiled  water,  and  goes  to  bed. 
Her  day  is^'dedr^ 

II 

! This  is  a quiet  enough  course  of  existence, 

‘and  the  picture  that  we  have  just  presented  will 
not,  perhaps,  be  much  in  agreement  with  the 
very  different  pictures  presented  to  us  by  the 
usual  legend.  We  have,  however,  drawn  from 
the  best  sources ; but  we  find  a very  natural 
explanation  of  the  contrast  between  legend  and 
history.^  The  former  draws  its  inspiration,  for 
one  thii^,  from  what  was  really  reprehensible,  and 
might  well  have  justified  the  most  ill-natured  sup- 
positions in  regard  to  one  side  of  the  Empress’s 
private  life,  on  which  we  shall  enlarge  later. 
Legend  and  ill-feeling  have  also  made  capital  out 
of  certain  periods  of  dissipation  which  were  never- 
theless only  accidental  and  occasional  in  the  history 
of  the  great  Empress,  such  as  that  which  followed 
the  great  crisis  of  despair  after  the  death  of 


HOME  LIFE 


383 

Lanskoi'.  The  general  course  of  life  of  Catherine 
appears  under  quite  a different  light,  and,  if  we 
can  make  up  our  minds  to  throw  a veil  over 
certain  pleasures,  which,  for  the  rest,  never  dis- 
turbed, in  a permanent  fashion,  the  harmonious 
balance  of  her  faculties,  nor  the  wisely  planned 
programme  of  her  occupations,  the  other  distrac- 
tions, associated  with  them,  were  quite  mild  and 
innocent.  Those  who,  on  the  strength  of  certain 
reports,  have  looked  upon  her  existence  as  one 
continual  orgy,  would  find  it  hard  indeed  to 
justify  such  a conception  by  the  testimony  of 
fact.  History  gives  no  support  to  it.  But  is 
this  history  well  informed  ? Did  not  the  more 
or  less  edifying  outside  of  the  Empress’s  private 
life  hide  something  far  more  scandalous  under- 
neath.? Were  there  not,  in  the  palaces  of  St. 
Petersburg  and  Tzarskoie-Sielo,  in  the  rooms  of 
the  Hermitage,  certain  hidden  corners,  conceal- 
ing more  unmentionable  pleasures  ? • We  do  not 
think  so,  for  reasons  founded  as  much  on  the 
character  of  Catherine  as  on  the  very  organisa- 
tion of  her  private  life,  itself,  in  one  way,  so 
much  a scandal,  but  a scandal  which  was  official, 
cynically  but  frankly  avowed.  The  Empress 
has  given  the  lie,  for  the  rest,  not  in  words  but 
in  actions,  to  the  greater  part  of  the  infamous 
accusations  that  were  brought  against  her  during 
her  lifetime.  The  Englishman  Harris  wrote  in 
January  1779  : ‘The  Empress  becomes  from  day 
to  day  more  disordered  and  dissipated,  and  her 
society  is  composed  of  the  lowest  set  among  the 
courtiers ; the  health  of  her  Majesty  is  certainly 
tried  by  the  life  she  leads.’  And  the  Foreign 
Office  concluding  that  the  sovereign,  ‘ worn  out 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


384 

by  debauch,’  had  only  a short  while  to  live,  all 
Europe  soon  found  out,  rather  at  its  expense, 
that  Catherine  was  quite  alive,  healthy  in  body 
and  mind.  Never  was  she  in  better  health, 
physically  and  mentally,  than  at  this  time. 

Catherine  was  rprrainly 
you  will,  but  she  was  nothing  of  a Bacchante. 
Insatiably  amorous,  as  she  was  infinitely  ambi- 
tious, she  accommodated  her  love  affairs,  as  she 
accommodated  her  ambition,  to  certain  rules  of 
conduct,  from  which  she  never  varied.  Favour- 
ites had  always  a large  place  in  her  palace  and 
in  all  the  material,  moral,  and  even  political 
organisation  of  her  life  ; but  the  sovereign  always 
held  her  own,  and,  strange  as  it  may  sound,  the 
quiet  housewife  as  well. 

Catherine  was  passionately  fond  of  children ; 
it  was  one  of  her  favourite  pSstimes  to  play  with 
them.  In  a letter  addressed  to  Ivan  Tchernichef 
in  1769  she  brings  herself  before  us,  with  the 
usual  company  of  her  leisure  hours,  and  we  see 
her,  Gregory  Orlof,  Count  Razoumofski,  and 
Zahar  Tchernichef,  Ivan’s  brother,  playing  with 
the  little  Markof,  whom  the  sovereign  has  just 
adopted,  gamboll'ng,  rolling  on  the  ground,  com- 
mitting a thousand  absurdities,  and  all  the  time 
in  fits  of  laughter.  The  little  Markof,  then  six 
years  old,  is  afterwards  replaced  by  the  son  of 
Admiral  Ribeaupierre.  The  child  is  hard  to 
tame,  having  got  into  his  little  brain  the  idea 
that  he  has  been  brought  to  the  palace  that  he 
may  have  his  head  cut  off.  But  Catherine 
gradually  wins  him  over,  cutting  out  paper 
figures,  making  toys  for  him.  One  day  she  tears 
a ribbon  out  of  her  collerette  to  make  the  reins 


HOME  LIFE 


385 

of  a horse  and  pair  that  she  has  cut  out  of  card- 
board. She  has  him  with  her  for  hours  together, 
sends  him  away  when  any  one  comes  to  her  on 
business,  then  sends  for  him  again  ; at  the  age  of 
five  she  makes  him  an  officer  of  the  Guards. 
He  is  not  the  only  one  to  be  thus  favoured  : two 
little  Galitzines,  four  grand-nephews  of  Patiom- 
kine,  the  son  of  the  Field-Marshal  Count  Salty- 
kof,  the  son  of  the  hetman  Branicki,  the  young 
Count  Chouvalof,  who  afterwards  accompanied 
Napoleon  to  Elba,  and  young  Valentine  Ester- 
hazy,  all  have  their  share.  Little  Ribeaupierre 
lives  under  her  Majesty’s  roof  till  the  age  of 
twelve.  On  sending  him  away,  Catherine  wishes 
him  to  write  to  her,  and  she  replies  to  his  letter 
in  her  own  handwriting.  But  her  letter  is  so  full 
of  erasures — she  has  not,  this  time,  >taken  the 
trouble  to  begin  over  again — that  she  has  it 
copied  out  by  her  secretary,  Popof,  who  after- 
wards sends  on  the  original. 

After  children,  we  dare  not  say  before,  but  it 
would  perhaps  be  more  correct,  dogs,  and  ani- 
mals  in  general,  play  aTarge  part  in  CatKerm^s^ 
private  life.  The  family  of  Sir  Tom  Anderson 
is  certainly,  of  all  the  families  of  the  empire,  the 
one  whose  position  at  court  is  most  .solidly 
established.  Here  is  the  list,  in  one  of  the 
Empress’s  letters — 

‘First  comes  the  head  of  the  race.  Sir  Tom 
Anderson,  his  spouse.  Duchess  Anderson,  their 
children,  the  young  Duchess  Anderson,  Mr. 
Anderson,  and  Tom  Thomson : the  last  is 
established  at  Moscow  under  the  guardianship  of 
Prince  Volkonski,  Governor- General  of  the  city. 
There  are  also,  besides  these,  whose  reputation 


386  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

is  made,  four  or  five  young  people  of  infinite 
promise,  who  are  being  brought  up  in  the  best 
houses  in  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg,  as  for 
example  that  of  Prince  Orlof,  MM.  Narychkine, 
and  Prince  Toupiakine.  Sir  Tom  Anderson  has 
taken  as  second  wife  Mile.  Mimi,  who  has  since 
taken  the  name  of  Mimi  Anderson.  But  up  to 
now  there  is  no  family.  Besides  these  legitimate 
marriages  (since  the  faults  as  well  as  the  virtues 
of  people  must  be  told  in  their  history)  M.  Tom 
has  had  several  illegitimate  attachments : the 
Grand  Duchess  has  several  pretty  bitches  who 
have  greatly  taken  him,  but  up  to  the  present  no 
bastards  have  been  seen,  and  it  would  seem  that 
there  are  none ; anything  to  the  contrary  is  a 
mere  calumny.’ 

But  Catherine  was  not  content  with  dogs 
alone.  In  1785  she  takes  a fancy  to  a white 
scjmrrel,  which  she  brings  up  herself,  and  feeds 
ouTSf  her  hand  with  nuts.  And  about  the  same 
time  she  gets  a monkey,  of  whose  cleverness  and 
pretty  ways  she  often  boasts.  ‘You  should  have 
seen,’  she  writes  to  Grimm,  ‘the  amazement  of 
Prince  Henry’  (brother  of  the  King  of  Prussia) 
‘ one  day  when  Prince  Potemkin  let  loose  a 
monkey  in  the  room,  with  which  I began  to  play, 
instead  of  going  on  with  the  conversation  we 
were  engaged  in.  He  opened  his  eyes,  but  in 
spite  of  all,  he  could  not  resist  the  tricks  of  the 
monkey.’  At  that  time  she  had  also  a cat,  the 
present  of  Prince  Patiomkine  ; ‘ the  most  tom-cat 
of  all  tom-cats,  gay,  witty,  not  obstinate.’  The 
present  is  in  return  for  a service  in  Sevres 
porcelain,  which  she  has  had  made  for  the 
favourite,  saying  that  it  was  for  her,  ‘ so  that  it 


HOME  LIFE 


387 

should  be  finer.’  The  Anderson  family,  however, 
loses  none  of  its  rights.  ‘You  will  excuse  me,’ 
says  the  Empress  in  one  of  her  letters,  ‘if  all 
the  preceding  page  is  very  badly  written.  I am 
extremely  hampered  at  the  moment  by  a certain 
young  and  fair  Zemire,  who  of  all  the  Thomassins 
is  the  one  who  will  come  closest  to  me,  and  who 
pushes  her  pretensions  to  the  point  of  having  her 
paws  on  my  paper.’ 

Let  us  quote  also  this  fragment  of  the  Sou- 
venirs of  Madame  Vigee- Lebrun  : ‘ When  the 
Empress  had  returned  to  town,  I used  to  see  her 
every  morning  open  the  shutters  and  throw  out 
crumbs  to  hundreds  of  rooks  who  came  every 
day  at  the  same  hour  to  seek  their  pittance.  In 
the  evening,  about  ten,  when  the  rooms  were  lit 
up,  I used  also  to  see  her  send  for  her  grand- 
children and  some  persons  of  the  court,  to  play  at 
hot  cockles  and  hide-and-seek.’ 

Madame  Vigde-Lebrun  lodged  in  a house  op- 
posite to  the  imperial  palace.  Regardless  of  local 
colour,  legend  has  since  transformed  the  rooks 
into  pigeons  ; but,  legend  or  history,  does  not  all 
that  the  one  and  the  other  tell  us  of  the  tastes 
and  habits  of  Catherine  stand  out  in  anything 
but  the  colours  of  a Messalina  ? Doubtless  the 
objection  that  we  have  ourselves  raised  retains 
its  force.  Is  what  we  know  of  the  interior  of  a 
palace  in  which  Catherine  dwelt  in  company  with 
an  • Orlof  or  a Patiomkine  the  whole  truth,  the 
true  truth,  as  the  Italians  say?  Doubt  is  the 
first  virtue  of  the  historian,  and  we  would  not 
forget  it.  Nevertheless,  as  we  have  already  said, 
Catherine  was  no  hypocrite ; she  lived  openly 
before  the  world,  and  she  had  the  pride,  or  the 


388  CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 

shamelessness,  to  seek  no  disguise,  and  to  defy 
rebuke,  at  the  point  where  our  respect  and  admira- 
tion must  needs  forsake  her. 

Ill 

From  the  outside,  the  Empress’s  life  offers 
little  material  for  the  chronicler,  favourably  in- 
clined or  the  reverse. 

Apart  from  the  p-reat  tours  which  stand  out  in 
the  history  of  her  reign,  that  in  the  Crimea  for 
instance,  she  preferred  generally  to  keep  within 
the  bounds  of  her  vast  and  luxurious  palaces. 
Sometimes,  during  the  carnival,  on  a fine  sunny 
day,  she  would  make  a longex^^cpedition.  Three 
great  sledges,  drawn  by  ten  or  twelve  horses, 
carried  her  and  her  ordinary  retinue.  To  each  of 
these  sledges  a dozen  smaller  ones  were  fastened 
on  behind  with  ropes,  and  into  these  the  lords 
and  ladies  of  the  court  crowded  pell-mell,  and  the 
strange  cavalcade  set  out  at  a gallop.  They  have 
dinner  in  the  suburbs  of  the  capital,  in  the 
Tchesme  Palace,  and  afterwards  cross  the  Neva 
and  go  on  as  far  as  Gorbilevo,  an  imperial  villa 
where  there  are  montagnes  russes ; returning  to 
the  Taurida  Palace  for  supper.  On  one  of  these 
excursions,  after  having  dined  and  returned  to 
her  place  in  one  of  the  large  sledges,  which  she 
has  all  to  herself,  Catherine  inquires  of  her  squire 
if  the  drivers  and  lackeys  have  had  their  dinnef. 
On  his  replying  in  the  negative,  she  gets  down 
from  the  sle^e.  ‘ They  want  dinner  as  much  as 
we  do,’  she  says.  And,  as  there  is  no  meal  ready 
for  them,  she  waits  patiently  until  the  hunger  of 
the  poor  servants  is  appeased. 


HOME  LIFE 


389 


But  these  escapades  are  rare.  The  sovereign 
does  not  care  to  be  seen  too  often,  except  in  her 
palace,  in  the  midst  of  the  decorative  mise-en- 
scene  that  surrounds  her ; she  fears  to  lessen  her 
prestige.  One  day  when  she  has  a headache, 
and  a walk  in  the  open  air  has  done  her  good, 
she  is  recommended  to  try  it  again  next  day,  the 
headache  having  returned.  ‘ What  would  the' 
people  say,’  she  replies,  ‘ if  they  saw  me  in  the 
street  two  days  following?’  Twice  in  the  course 
of  the  winter  she  goes  to  the  masked  ball. 
Those  whom  she  invites  to  accompany  her  find 
masks  and  costumes  at  the  court.  Generally,  on 
these  occasions,  in  order  the  better  to  preserve 
her  incognito,  Catherine  goes  in  some  one  else’s 
coach.  She  likes  to  put  on  a man’s  costume,  and 
to  puzzle  the  women,  to  whom  she  pays  court, 
and  whose  curiosity  she  puts  off  the  track.  Her 
voice,  rather  deep,  lends  itself  to  this  disguise. 
One  of  those  whose  fancy  she  takes,  carrying  her 
imaginary  conquest  to  some  lengths,  is  so  curious 
that  she  ends  by  violently  tearing  off  the  mask  of 
the  mysterioifj:  cavalier.  Catherine  is  very  angry, 
but  she  merely  reproaches  the  too  susceptible 
fair  one  of  having  broken  the  etiquette  in  usage 
at  fites  of  this  kind. 

She  accepts  no  invitations.  The  opulent 
Prince  of  Taurida,  Count  Razoumofski,  Prince 
Field-Marshal  Galitzine,  the  two  Narychkines, 
the  Countess  Bruce,  and  Madame  Batiouchkine 
are  almost  the  only  persons  who  have  sometimes 
the  honour  of  having  her  as  guest.  But  as  a rule 
she  will  not  have  herself  announced,  delighting 
in  the  confusion  caused  by  her  unexpected  ap- 
parition. 


390  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

In  spring  she  leaves  the  Winter  Palace  for  the 
Taurida  Palace,  when  that  magnificent  abode, 
built  by  Patiomkine,  has  been  bought  by  her 
from  the  wealthy  favourite.  She  generally  goes 
there  on  Palm  Sunday,  and  pays  her  Easter 
devotions.  She  remains  there  till  the  month  of 
May,  when  she  returns  to  the  shades  of  Tzar- 
skoie-Sielo.  This  abode  that  she  has  built,  in 
place  of  the  residences  of  Peterhof  and  Oranien- 
baum,  about  which  there  cling  too  mournful 
souvenirs,  is  the  spot  where  she  is  most  happy. 
There,  no  more  reception,  no  more  court  cere- 
mony, no  more  tiresome  audiences.  Affairs  even 
are  in  some  sort  suspended,  or  at  least  reduced  to 
what  is  strictly  necessary.  The  Empress  rises 
at  six  or  seven,  and  begins  her  day  with  a walk. 
Lightly  dressed,  a cane  in  her  hand,  she  strolls 
through  her  gardens.  The  faithful  Pierekousihina, 
a valet  de  chambre,  and  a huntsman,  are  the 
only  ones  who  accompany  her.  But  the  Anderson 
family,  one  may  be  sure,  is  of  the  party,  and  the 
sovereign’s  presence  is  known  from  afar  by  the 
joyous  barking  of  the  band  that  gambols  before 
her  on  the  grass.  Catherine  is  passionately  fond 
of  gardening,  and  plantomania,  as  she  calls  that 
taste,  rivals  with  her  the  taste  for  building.  She 
follows,  in  this  respect,  the  fashion  of  the  age. 

‘ I am  madly  enamoured  at  present,’  she  writes 
in  1772,  ‘of  gardens  in  the  English  manner, 
curved  lines,  gentle  slopes,  pools  in  the  form  of 
lakes,  archipelagos  in  terra  firma,  and  I have  a 
profound  scorn  for  straight  lines.  I hate  foun- 
tains that  torture  the  water  to  make  it  take  a 
course  contrary  to  nature  : in  a word  anglomania 
dominates  my  plantomania.’  And  five  years 


HOME  LIFE 


39> 


later : ‘ I often  enrage  my  gardeners,  and  more 
than  one  German  gardener  has  said  to  me  : Aber, 
mein  Gott,  was  wird  das  werden  ! I found  that 
the  greater  part  were  mere  pedantic  followers  of 
routine : the  departures  from  routine  that  I often 
propose  to  them  horrify  them,  and,  when  I see 
that  routine  is  too  strong  for  me,  I employ  the 
first  docile  young  gardener  that  comes  to  hand. 
There  is  no  one  who  laughs  at  my  plantomania  so 
much  as  Count  Orlof.  He  spies  on  me,  mimics 
me,  makes  fun  of  me,  criticises  me,  but,  on  going 
away,  he  asked  me  to  look  after  his  garden 
during  the  summer,  and  this  year  I am  going  to 
play  pranks  there  after  my  own  fashion.  His 
land  is  close  to  mine ; I am  very  proud  that  he 
has  recognised  my  merits  as  a gardener.’ 

The  gardens  of  Tzarskoie  are  public.  One 
day,  sitting  on  a bench  with  la  Pierekousihina, 
Catherine  sees  a man  pass,  a citizen  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, who,  seeing  the  two  old  women,  and  not 
recognising  the  sovereign,  casts  a scornful  look 
upon  them,  and  goes  on  his  way.  La  Pierekousi- 
hina is  indignant,  but  Catherine  replies  : ‘ What 
would  you  have,  Maria  Savichna.^  Twenty 
years  ago  that  would  not  have  happened  to  us ; 
we  have  aged  : it  is  our  fault.’ 

After  her  walk,  at  nine,  Catherine  begins 
work,  and  till  six  o’clock  the  rest  of  the  day  goes 
on  much  as  it  does  in  town,  except  that  there  are 
fewer  officials  and  tedious  clerkly  people,  and 
that  the  private  retinue  is  lessened.  One  or  two 
invited  guests  from  the  capital  sometimes  appear 
at  dinner.  At  six  o’clock,  another  walk,  this 
time  in  larger  numbers,  but  in  the  most  complete 
liberty.  The  Empress’s  grandchildren  play  at 


392 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


base-ball,  with  Count  Razoumofski  as  umpire. 
If  it  rains,  Catherine  gathers  together  her  people 
in  the  famous  gallery  of  colonnades  covered  with 
glass,  in  which  one  sees  the  busts  of  the  great 
men,  ancient  and  modern,  for  whom  she  has  a 
particular  admiration. 

The  foreign  ministers  are  sometimes  admitted 
to  share  the  pleasures  of  the  imperial  villegiatura. 
The  Comte  de  Segur,  who  had  this  honour,  thus 
recounts  his  recollections  of  it : — 

‘Catherine  1 1.  had  the  extreme  kindness  to  show 
me  herself  all  the  beauties  of  this  magnificent 
pleasure-house,  whose  limpid  waters,  fresh  groves, 
elegant  pavilions,  noble  architecture,  priceless 
furniture,  cabinets  panelled  in  porphyry,  in  lapis- 
lazuli,  in  malachite,  had  a fairy-like  air,  and  recalled 
to  those  who  admired  them  the  palace  and  gardens 
of  Armida.  . . . The  entire  liberty,  the  gaiety  of 
conversation,  the  absence  of  all  ennui  and  con- 
straint, might  have  made  me  believe,  had  I 
turned  away  my  eyes  from  the  imposing  majesty 
of  the  Palace  of  Tzarskoie-Sielo,  that  I was  in 
the  country  among  the  pleasantest  of  private 
people.  . . . M.  de  Cobenzel  manifested  his 
unquenchable  gaiety  ; M.  Fitz-Herbert,  a fine  and 
finished  wit ; General  Potemkin,  an  originality 
that  made  him  always  new,  even  during  his 
frequent  moments  of  moroseness  or  dreaminess. 
The  Empress  chatted  familiarly  on  all  subjects, 
politics  excepted ; she  liked  to  hear  amusing 
stories,  and  to  tell  them,  and  if  by  chance  the 
conversation  flagged,  the  chief  equerry,  Narych- 
kine,  recalled  the  laughter  and  gaiety  by  his 
mad  humour.  Catherine  worked  almost  all  the 
morning,  and  we  were  all  free  to  write,  read, 


HOME  LIFE 


393 


walk,  or  do  whatever  we,  felt  inclined.  The 
dinner,  very  limited  as  to  dishes  and  guests,  was 
good,  simple,  without  display ; the  time  after 
dinner  was  devoted  to  play  and  conversation. 
In  the  evening  the  Empress  retired  early,  and 
after  that  we  met  together,  Cobenzel,  Fitz- 
Herbert,  and  I,  either  in  the  room  of  one  of  our 
number,  or  in  Prince  Potemkin’s.’ 

Catherine  rested  in  this  pleasant  retreat  from 
the  fatigues  of  her  position,  from  those  especially 
which  came  from  the  necessity  of  her  presence  in 
the  court  festivities  and  ceremonies.  We  owe 
our  readers  a few  words  on  the  celebrated  soirees 
of  the  Hermitage. 

In  the  amplitude  of  its  proportions,  the  magni- 
ficence of  its  interior  decoration,  the  palace  thus 
called  did  not  by  any  means  answer  to  its  name. 
A series  of  rooms  and  galleries  led  to  a circular 
salle  de  spectacle^  a reduced  copy  of  the  ancient 
theatre  at  Vicenza.  The  receptions  were  of 
three  different  kinds,  the  great  receptions,  the 
medium,  and  the  small.  To  the  first  were  ad- 
mitted generally  all  the  persons  of  distinction  and 
the  foreign  ministers.  Balls  alternated  with 
performances,  in  which  all  the  famous  artists  took 
part : Sarti,  Cimarosa,  Paisiello  conducted  the 
orchestra;  Biotti,  Puniani,  Dietz,  Lulli,  Michel, 
displayed  their  talents  on  different  instruments ; 
la  Gabrielli,  la  Todi,  the  baritone  Marchesi, 
the  tenor  Majorletti,  sang ; in  pantomime  there 
were  Pic,  Rossi,  Santini,  Canucciani.  After  the 
concerts  and  Italian  operas  came  the  performances 
of  Russian  comedies  and  plays,  with  Volkof, 
Dmitrefski,  Choumski,  Kroutitski,  Tchernikof, 
Sandounoff,  la  Trepolskaia.  The  French  drama 

26 


394  CATHERINE  II.  OE  RUSSIA 

and  opera  also  had  their  place,  with  Sedaine, 
Philidor,  Gretry,  whose  works  found  elegant 
interpreters,  such  as  the  famous  Aufresne.  At 
the  ball,  each  lady  had  two  cavaliers,  who  supped 
with  her.  After  supper  one  more  polonaise  was 
danced,  and  the  ball  was  over  before  ten. 

The  medium  receptions  differed  from  the 
-^rand  receptions  merely  by  the  smaller  number 
of  guests. 

Quite  different  was  the  character  of  the  small 
receptions.  As  a rule  no  one  was  present  except 
the  members  of  the  imperial  family  and  some 
special  friends  carefully  selected — a score  of 
people  in  all.  An  invitation  to  a s?“.  iger  was  a 
mark  of  exceptional  favour,  to  which  the  greatest 
value  was  attached.  In  the  orchestra,  when 
there  was  a play,  as  was  often  the  case,  there 
were  sometimes  only  three  or  four  picked  musi- 
cians, Dietz  with  his  violin,  Delfini  with  his 
violoncello,  Cardon  with  his  harp.  After  the 
play,  every  one  did  as  he  liked.  In  the  rooms 
thrown  open  to  the  guests  there  was  really  no 
longer  tm  soupgon  cCimpdratrice,  as  she  is  made 
to  say  to  the  Baron  Grimm  in  a passage  of 
his  memoirs.  On  the  walls  is  a notice  : it  is 
forbidden,  among  other  things,  to  rise  before  the 
sovereign,  even  if  one  is  sitting  down,  and  the 
Empress  comes  over,  and  chooses  to  enter  into 
conversation  while  standing.  It  is  forbidden  to 
have  an  ill-tempered  air,  to  exchange  unkind 
words,  to  speak  ill  of  any  one  whatever.  It  is 
forbidden  to  remember  the  quarrels  or  the  friend- 
ships that  one  may  have  out  of  doors : they  must 
be  left  at  the  door,  with  sword  and  hat.  It  is 
forbidden  also  to  lie  and  to  talk  idly.  A fine  of 


HOME  LIFE 


395 


ten  kopecks,  which  is  received  in  a poor-box,  is 
inflicted  on  those  who  break  these  rules.  Bez- 
borodko is  appointed  cashier.  Among  the  habitues 
there  is  one  who,  by  his  constant  blunders,  con- 
tinually has  the  cashier  after  him  with  his  money- 
box. One  day  when  the  bore  has  gone  before 
the  other  guests,  Bezborodko  says  to  the  Empress 
that  she  ought  to  refuse  him  admission  to  the 
Hermitage,  otherwise  he  will  ruin  himself  in 
fines.  ‘Let  him  be,’  replies  Catherine,  ‘after 
having  passed  the  day  in  hearing  your  reports 
and  those  of  your  colleagues,  1 need  some  rest, 
and  such  idle  talk  is  quite  pleasant.’  ‘ Then, 
M atouchkauB  ays  Bezborodko,  ‘come  and  pay 
us  a visit  in  the  senate  : you  will  get  as  much 
of  it  as  ever  you  want.’ 

Gahtea,  are  all  the  rage  in  these  gatherings, 
and  Cather'ine  herself  is  the  life  and  soul  of  the 
company,  stirring  up  the  gaiety  of  her  guests, 
and  authorising  every  liberty.  The  forfeits  are, 
to  drink  a glass  of  water  at  one  draught,  to  recite 
a passage  of  the  Tdldmachide  of  Trediakofski 
without  yawning,  etc.  The  evening  ends  with  a 
game  of  cards.  Often,  in  the  middle  of  a rubber, 
the  sovereign  is  interrupted  to  execute  some 
forfeit.  ‘ What  must  I do  ? ’ she  asks  meekly. 
‘ Sit  on  the  ground,  Matouchka.’  She  obeys  at 
once. 

All  that  is  far  enough  from  the  imaginary 
orgies  which  haunted  the  minds  of  her  contem- 
poraries. In  a way,  it  is  true,  Catherine  afforded 
some  excuse  for  suppositions  of  this  kind,  which 
have  done  some  harm  to  her  reputation.  She 
had  from  the  first,  and  she  kept  to  the  last, 
ways  and  manners  which  are  unusual  enough  in 


396  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

sovereigns.  In  1763  the  Baron  de  Breteuil. 
just  as  he  was  leaving  his  post,  received  from  her 
the  following  letter,  the  style  of  which  might 
have  surprised  a diplomatist  accustomed  to  the 
ceremonious  forms  in  use  in  courts  : — 

‘ Monsieur  le  Baron  de  Breteuil  will  have  the 
kindness  to  be  at  the  cottage,  on  whose  beauty 
he  has  promised  to  keep  eternal  secrecy,  on 
Sunday  at  eleven  o’clock  in  the  morning,  and  if 
he  will  be  so  good,  he  will  remain  till  after  supper 
on  the  pretext  of  paying  a visit  to  Count  Orlof.’ 

The  note,  without  date  or  signature,  was  in 
the  Empress’s  handwriting.  The  cottage  referred 
to  was  a villa  newly  built  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Moscow.  Breteuil  answered  as  follows  : — 

‘The  Baron  de  Breteuil  renews  his  vows  of 
secrecy  in  regard  to  the  cottage,  where  he  looks 
forward  to  the  pleasure  of  being  publicly  admitted 
on  Sunday  at  eleven  o’clock.  He  will  be  there, 
in  all  respect  and  gratitude,  and  he  will  take 
advantage  of  the  kind  permission  to  remain  all 
day,  but  M.  le  Comte  d’ Orlof  will  excuse  him 
from  making  the  pretext  of  paying  him  a visit.’ 

One  would  say  that  this  was  written  at  the 
dictation  of  the  Baroness.  But  if  she  really 
saw  anything  dubious  in  the  sovereign’s  invita- 
tion, she  was  well  deceived,  and  her  husband 
well  taken  aback,  when  he  found  out  the  real 
cause  of  it. 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  397 


CHAPTER  II 

FAMILY  LIFE — THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL 
I 

Catherine  did  not  show  a very  profound  affec- 
tion for  her  parents ; she  seemed  to  forget  that 
she  had  a brother ; she  was  on  bad  terms  with 
her  husband,  if  she  had  not  even  some  share, 
direct  or  indirect,  in  his  tragic  end  ; finally,  her 
son,  the  only  one  of  her  legitimate  children  who 
survived  her,  had  not  much  cause  for  gratitude 
to  her,  if  even,  as  it  has  been  supposed,  she  did 
not  think  of  disinheriting  him.  These  are  facts. 
It  has  been  inferred  from  this  that  she Jiad  no 
sort  of  family  feeling,  and  that  even  the  maternal 
feeling,  found  in  the  lowest  of  the  low,  and  even 
among  the  animals,  was  alien  to  her  cold  and 
corrupt  heart,  depraved  by  ambition  and  by  vice. 
These  are  questions  to  be  considered. 

What  were  the  relations  of  Catherine  with  her 
husband,  we  have  already  said.  Her  relations 
with  the  heir  to  the  throne  have  been  variously 
interpreted.  Some  have  imagined  them  to  have 
been  excellent  up  to  the  time  of  Paul’s  first 
marriage.  From  this  moment  the  presence  of  a 
stranger  may  have  exercised,  in  their  regard, 
a jarring  influence,  such  as  one  finds  in  the 
history  of  many  families.  Besides'  this,  in  the 
first  year  of  this  union,  in  1774,  a conspiracy 
is  said  to  have  been  discovered,  the  aim  of  which 
was  to  raise  the  Grand  Duke  to  the  throne  in 
place  of  his  mother,  and  at  the  head  of  this  plot 


398  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

was  the  new  daughter-in-law  of  Catherine,  the 
Grand  Duchess  Nathalie  Aleksieievna,  nde  Prin- 
cess of  Darmstadt.  A secretary  of  Count  Panine, 
Bakounine,  betrayed  the  secret  to  the  Empress, 
who  threw  the  list  of  conspirators  in  the  fire  : 
among  the  names  she  had  found  that  of  her 
Prime  Minister,  side  by  side  with  her  former 
friend.  Princess  Dachkof. 

This  story,  which  is  founded  merely  on  a family 
tradition,  has  been  doubted  by  many.  It  raises, 
in  fact,  many  objections.  Plots,  real  or  imagin- 
ary, having  for  object  the  support  of  the  incon- 
testable rights  of  the  son  of.  Peter  III.,  were 
frequent  throughout  the  whole  reign  of  Catherine. 
In  his  despatch  of  June  26,  1772,  Count  Solms 
notifies  to  Frederick  the  discovery  of  an  intrigue 
of  this  kind  set  on  foot  by  some  officers  of  the 
Preobrajenski  regiment.  But  he  speaks  also  of 
blows  of  the  knout  distributed,  of  noses  and  ears 
cut  off.  Such  was  the  natural  order  of  things. 
The  fact  admitted  of  an  almost  hostile  tension 
between  mother  and  son,  in  place  of  the  former 
harmonious,  if  never  very  intimate  and  affec- 
tionate, relations,  another  explanation  has  been 
given  and  another  date  attributed  to  this  change 
of  things.  The  tour  that  Paul  wished  to  make  in 
Europe,  in  company  with  his  second  wife,  the 
Grand  Duchess  Maria  of  Wurtemberg,  brought 
about  the  crisis.  Having  authorised  this  excur- 
sion only  against  her  will,  Catherine  wished  her 
son,  at  all  events,  not  to  stop  at  Berlin.  She  was 
on  the  point  of  breaking  with  the  court  there 
Paul  took  no  heed  of  all  that.  He  let  himself 
be  ffited,  flattered,  and  cajoled  by  Frederick,  and 
when  he  made  his  appearance  at  Vienna,  people 


FAMIL  y LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PA  UL  399 

were  astonished  to  find  that  he  knew  nothing, 
or  professed  to  know  nothing,  of  the  alliance 
which  had  already  linked  that  court  with  his. 
He  put  himself  forward  everywhere  as  a severe 
critic  of  his  mother’s  policy.  At  Florence, 
talking  with  Leopold,  the  brother  of  Joseph, 
he  expressed  himself  in  the  most  unguarded 
manner  in  reference  to  the  principal  assistants 
of  Catherine,  Prince  Patiomkine,  Bezborodko, 
Panine  himself,  declaring  that  they  were  all 
without  exception  in  the  pay  of  the  Emperor. 
‘ I will  stamp  them  all  out,’  he  repeated  wrath- 
fully. 

This  second  version  seems  to  us  as  arbitrary 
as  the  first,  and  neither  appears  to  have  any 
foundation  ; it  remains  to  be  proved  that  at 
any  period  whatever  Catherine  treated  her  son 
better  than  she  did  after  his  marriage,  or  after 
the  ‘grand  tour’  which  separated  them  for  a 
time.  Doubtless,  in  her  letters  to  Madame  Bielke, 
which  date  from  1772,  it  pleases  the  sovereign 
to  paint  in  the  most  agreeable  colours  the  life 
that  she  leads  at  Tzars koie,  in  company  with 
Paul ; but  we  know  already  what  Catherine’s 
epistolary  sincerity  is  worth.  Doubtless  also, 
in  the  course  of  the  September  of  that  year, 
the  Prussian  ambassador.  Count  Solms,  mentions 
several  times  a revival  of  tender  demonstrations 
of  the  Empress  to  the  Grand  Duke.  ‘ She 
cannot  make  a step  without  having  him  with 
her,’  he  writes.  But  this  is  at  the  very  height 
of  the  crisis  which,  in  separating  the  sovereign 
from  her  first  favourite,  and  thus  putting  lier  at 
variance  with  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Orlofs, 
causes  her  serious  misgivings  as  to  the  security 


400  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

of  her  throne.  ‘ I know  on  sure  authority,’  adds 
Solms,  ‘ that  the  Grand  Duke  is  not  too  sure 
himself  of  the  meaning  of  this  excess  of  friend- 
liness on  the  part  of  his  mother.’  And  not 
without  reason.  About  the  same  time,  writing 
to  her  son,  and  beginning  her  letter  twice  over, 
Catherine  first  wrote  these  words  : — 

‘ It  seems  to  me  that  you  were  either  afflicted 
or  sulky  during  the  day ; both  would  distress 
me  as  a mother;  but  as  for  the  sulkiness,  I 
confess  I am  not  much  concerned  about  that, 
either  as  mother  or  as  Empress.’ 

She  tore  up  the  page,  and  began  again  thus: — 

‘ It  seems  to  me  that  you  were  either  afflicted 
or  sulky  during  the  day ; if  you  were  in  affliction, 
1 should  be  distressed  by  it ; if  it  was  sullenness, 
I leave  you  to  imagine  what  attention  I should 
pay  to  that.’ 

But  the  first  draft  probably  rendered  her 
thought  more  exactly,  and  it  does  not  indicate, 
to  our  view,  very  cordial  relations.  Catherine 
supposed  that  the  affliction  or  sulkiness  of  the 
Grand  Duke  came  from  her  refusal  to  admit 
him  to  her  council,  and  this  refusal  was  assuredly 
not  in  itself  a proof  of  confidence  or  affection. 
As  early  as  1764  Berenger  wrote  from  St.  Peters- 
burg to  the  Duke  of  Praslin — 

‘ This  young  Prince  gives  evidence  of  dark 
and  dangerous  dispositions.  It  is  known  that 
his  mother  does  not  love  him,  and  that,  since 
her  accession,  she  shows  him  none  of  the  marks 
of  tenderness  that  she  showered  upon  him  be- 
fore. ...  He  asked,  a few  days  ago  [Berenger 
had  this  detail  from  one  of  the  Grand  Duke’s 
valels  de  ch.ambre\,  why  his  father  had  died,  and 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  401 

why  the  throne  which  belonged  to  him  had  been 
given  to  his  mother.  He  added  that  when  he 
was  grown  up,  he  would  get  at  the  bottom  of 
all  that.  They  say  that  the  child  makes  too 
many  such  remarks  for  them  not  to  reach  the 
ears  of  the  Empress.  Now,  no  one  doubts  that 
this  Princess  takes  all  possible  precautions  against 
such  an  event.’ 

It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  tour  under- 
taken by  Paul  against  the  wish  of  his  mother, 
and  the  attitude  that  he  often  assumed  on  that 
occasion,  may  have  helped  to  bring  about  some 
ill-feeling  on  the  part  of  the  Empress,  and  to 
urge  her  forward  on  a path  on  which  her  ac- 
cession to  the  throne,  that  is  to  say,  properly 
speaking,  her  usurpation  of  the  rights  of  her 
.son,  had  made  her  enter. 

But  the  intimacy  and  affection  had  ceased 
before  this.  They  were  incompatible  with  the 
respective  position  of  these  two  beings,  one  of 
whom  had  violently  taken  the  place  of  the  other. 
Had  these  affectionate  feelings  and  relations 
ever  existed  ? Could  Catherine  ever  have  had 
a mother’s  heart  for  the  child  who  had  been 
torn  from  her  arms  as  soon  as  he  was  born, 
whom  she  had  nevei  • nursed,  whom  she  had 
never  brought  up,  whom  she  had  never  even  seen 
except  at  rare  intervals  ? Did  she  ever  really 
shower  upon  him  those  caresses  of  which  Beren- 
ger  speaks  ? Perhaps,  before  she  had  become 
Empress,  when  the  child,  her  son,  might  one  day 
become  her  Emperor  and  her  master.  If  there 
was  a change  in  her  demeanour,  the  event  must 
have  been  simultaneous  with  that  of  July  5,  1762, 
as  indeed  the  report  of  the  French  charg^- 


402 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


d'affaires  clearly  indicates,  and  the  reason  is 
sufficiently  apparent. 


We  have  already  spoken  several  times  of  the 
tour  of  the  Count  and  Countess  du  Nord.  The 
departure,  which  took  place  on  October  5,  1781, 
produced  a great  sensation  at  St.  Petersburg. 
The  people  surrounded  the  carriage  which  bore 
the  heir  to  the  throne,  with  tears  and  sobs  and 
every  sign  of  the  warmest  affection.  Some 
enthusiasts  threw  themselves  under  the  wheels 
of  the  carriage  to  hinder  it  from  advancing.  This 
alone  might  well  have  alarmed  Catherine.  She 
was,  however,  at  first  well  pleased,  rather  than 
otherwise,  by  the  homage  with  which  Paul 
was  greeted  at  Berlin.  A conversation  that 
she  had  with  her  son,  after  his  return,  changed 
her  feelings  on  the  subject.  Then  only  she  be- 
thought herself  that  he  had  been  made  too  much 
of  by  Frederick.  As  Paul  made  no  disguise  of 
his  opinions  and  sympathies,  she  grew  angry, 
declaring  in  her  wrath  that  after  she  was  dead 
‘ Russia  would  become  a Prussian  province.’ 

The  Grand  Duke’s  travels  were  in  the  strictest 
incognito.  Their  Highnesses  refused  even  the 
apartments  that  had  been  prepared  for  them, 
putting  up  in  furnished  lodgings  with  all  their 
suite,  which  must  have  been  considerable,  since 
it  required  sixty  horses  at  every  posting  station. 
Paul  and  his  wife  consented,  however,  to  be 
guests  at  Versailles  for  a few  days,  and  their 
visit  seems  to  have  left  ..  a favourable  impression. 

‘ The  Grand  Duke,’  wrote  Marie  Antoinette,  the 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  403 

day  after  their  departure,  ‘ has  the  air  of  an  ardent 
and  impetuous  man  who  holds  himself  in.  . . . 
The  King  has  not  noticed  that  he  professed  ex- 
travagant opinions.’  There  was  a mythological 
and  allegorical  fete  at  Trianon,  where  a young 
Hebe  particularly  charmed  the  august  spectators. 
It  was — how  can  one  record  it  without  a pang  ? 
— Madame  Elizabeth  ! The  royal  family  wished 
also  to  make  good  the  reputation  of  French 
hospitality.  At  Mouceaux  {sic\  in  the  gardens 
of  the  Due  de  Chartres,  ‘ after  having  traversed 
a thousand  winding  byways,  arched  over  with 
sycamores,  lilac-trees,  Italian  poplars,  and  a thou- 
sand shrubs  of  the  Indies;  after  having  breathed 
the  fresh  air,  and  rested  on  plots  of  grass  and 
wild  thyme,  visited  rustic  huts  and  crumbling 
Gothic  manor-houses,  the  Comte  and  Comtesse 
du  Nord  partook  of  the  simple  repast  of  the 
labouring  shepherds.’ 

At  Paris  the  passage  of  their  Highnesses, 
coinciding  with  the  effervescence  of  Russian 
sympathies  that  we  have  noted  above,  had  almost 
the  air  of  a triumphal  progress.  Everywhere 
agreeable  surprises  were  in  store  for  the  visitors. 
At  the  Royal  Library,  a number  of  Russian 
books  were  taken  down  for  the  Grand  Duke’s 
benefit  from  the  shelves,  where  no  doubt  they 
found  few  readers,  and  the  librarian,  Desolnais, 
called  his  attention  to  a volume  that  had  served, 
said  he,  in  the  education  of  a prince  whom  Paris 
had  long  learned  to  admire,  and  was  now  learning 
to  love.  It  was  a manual  composed  for  the  use 
of  Paul  himself  by  the  Archbishop  Plato.  Their 
Highnesses  did  their  utmost  to  repay  all  this 
courtesy.  After  having  reviewed  Marshal  Biron’s 


^04  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

regiment  of  Gardes-frangaises,  the  Grand  Duchess 
sent  to  the  marshal  a gracious  letter,  enclosing 
ten  bank-notes  of  i2CO  francs,  for  the  soldiers  to 
drink  the  health  of  their  chief.  The  parsimony, 
a forced  parsimony  indeed,  of  Paul  in  1776  was 
still  remembered  at  Berlin,  where  the  Grand  Duke 
had  come  to  marry  his  second  wife.  Imperious 
orders  from  St.  Petersburg  had  cut  short  his 
generous  intentions.  The  proceeding  was  much 
criticised,  even  at  Paris,  and  the  present  differ- 
ence was  all  the  more  appreciated.  There  was, 
however,  the  painful  incident  of  Clerisseau. 
Paul,  naturally,  was  surrounded  in  the  capital 
of  arts  and  letters  by  the  literary  clique  with 
which  his  mother  was  connected.  He  did  not 
always  give  it  satisfaction,  or  consider  all  its 
susceptibilities.  But  for  the  distance  which  separ- 
ated Paris  from  St.  Petersburg,  Catherine  herself 
might  not  have  succeeded.  Madame  d’Ober- 
kirch  relates  this  scene  in  her  memoirs,  much  as 
follows.  The  scene  took  place  at  the  house  of 
M.  de  la  Reyniere,  now  occupied  by  the  Cercle 
de  r Union  Artistique.  M.  de  la  Reyniere  was 
a wealthy  fermier-gdndral,  and  his  house,  which 
was  decorated  bj'  the  best  artists  in  Paris, 
Clerisseau  at  their  head,  was  famed  as  one  of 
the  wonders  of  the  city.  Paul  wished  to  see  it. 
He  had  already  been  introd-!ced  to  the  irascible 
architect,  and  he  had  not  been  too  attentive  to 
him  : so  at  least  Clerisseau  thought,  and  he  had 
written  a letter  to  Prince  Bariatinski,  the  Grand 
Duke’s  aide-de-camp — a very  dignified  letter, 
according  to  Grimm — in  which  he  had  stated 
that  he  would  acquaint  the  Empress  with  the 
reception  that  persons  honoured  by  her  esteem 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  Gj.’AND  DUKE  PAUL  405 

met  with  from  her  son.  A few  days  after,  the 
artist  and  the  prince  met  in  the  dining-room 
of  de  la  Reyniere’s  house,  one  of  Clerisseau’s 
masterpieces.  On  entering,  the  Comte  du  Nord 
perceived  a man  who  bowed  without  speaking. 
Paul  returned  the  bow,  but  the-  man  barred  the 
way. 

‘ What  do  you  want,  Monsieur  ?’ 

‘You  do  not  recognise  me.  Monseigneur  ’ 

‘ I recognise  you  perfectly ; you  are  the  Sieur 
Clerisseau.’ 

‘ Why  then  do  you  not  speak  to  me  ? ’ 

‘ Because  I have  nothing  to  say.’ 

‘ Then  you  are  going  to  be  here  as  you  were 
at  home,  Monseigneur,  slight  me,  treat  me  as  a 
stranger ; I,  the  architect  of  the  Empress,  and 
in  correspondence  with  her!  And  I have  written 
to  her,  to  complain  of  your  unworthy  treatment 
of  me.’ 

‘ Write  her  also,  then,  that  you  are  hindering 
me  from  passing.  Monsieur.  She  will  certainly 
thank  you  for  it.’ 

The  version  that  Grimm  gives  of  the  incident, 
in  his  correspondence  with  Catherine,  is  quite 
different,  and  it  seems  to  u..'more  probable.  It 
was  Paul  who  first  made  overtures  to  Clerisseau, 
wishing  to  repair  the  wrongs  he  might  have  done 
him,  showing  himself  most  amiable,  and  recalling 
the  flattering  words  that  he  had  used  on  their 
first  meeting.  But  Clerisseau  cut  short  these 
lardy  demonstrations — 

‘ Monsieur  le  Comte,  you  may  have  intended 
to  say  all  that  to  me,  but  I heard  nothing  of  it.’ 

‘You  must  have  neither  ears  nor  memory, 
then,’  said  Paul,  with  some  heat. 


io6  CA  THERINh  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

With  this,  some  people  coming  up  just  then,  the 
conversation  ended.  ‘ Never  was  I so  uncivilly 
used,’  said  the  Grand  Duke,  laughing,  to  those 
about  him;  ‘it  gave  me  quite  a shock.’  The 
Grand  Duchess  tried  to  smooth  over  matters ; 
but  Clerisseau  was  unmanageable,  and  ended 
by  becoming  rude.  The  Princess  having  asked 
him  to  send  her  the  plan  and  sketches  of  a sa/on 
that  she  had  admired,  he  replied  dryly — 

‘ 1 will  send  them  to  my  august  benefactress, 
where  Madame  la  Comtesse  can  have  them.’ 

Catherine  did  not,  in  this  circumstance,  attempt 
to  justify  her  architect  against  the  heir  to  her 
throne;  she  knew  too  well  the  interests  of  her 
rank  and  dignity ; but  the  incident  doubtless 
left  an  unpleasant  impression  on  her  mind ; 
she  was  only  too  much  disposed  to  think  her 
son  and  heir  a clumsy  creature.  The  letters  that 
she  sent  to  the  travellers,  during  their  absence, 
were,  however,  always  affectionately  maternal.  It 
would  seem  even  as  if  this  separation  exercised 
a calming  influence  over  her  mind.  When  he 
was  present,  and  by  her  side,  Paul  became  a 
menace  and  a source  of  perpetual  uneasiness. 
Had  it  not  been  publicly  stated  that  she  was 
only  awaiting  his  coming  of  age  to  restore  to 
him  his  own,  that  is  to  say,  the  place  that  she 
herself  occupied  ? 


Ill 

After  his  return  these  disagreements  grew 
worse.  Paul  and  his  wife  complained  that  the 
Empress  took  out  of  their  hands  the  education  of 
their  children.  At  the  time  of  the  Crimean  tour, 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  40; 

Catherine  had  wished  to  take  with  her  the  little 
Grand  Dukes  Alexander  and  Constantine.  This 
time  the  parents’  objections  were  so  strong  that 
she  hesitated  to  go  against  them.  But  questions 
of  policy  played  a considerable  part  in  the 
quarrel,  which  grew  worse  from  day  to  day.  In 
July  1783  the  Marquis  de  Verac,  then  French 
minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  wishing  to  prevent  a 
conflict  between  Russia  and  Turkey,  renewed  the 
representations  that  the  Court  of  Versailles  never 
ceased  to  urge,  and  complained  of  the  unfavour- 
able, almost  scornful,  reception  that  was  given 
them  on  the  part  of  the  Empress  and  her 
ministers ; he  insisted  in  these  terms  on  an 
antagonism  in  which  he  saw  some  hope  for  the 
future  : ‘ The  Grand  Duke  is  entirely  opposed  to 
all  this  system  of  ideas  ; this  Prince,  brought  up 
in  the  wise  principles  of  the  late  Count  Panine, 
regards  with  mortal  dissatisfaction  the  deplorable 
state  to  w'hich  the  empire  has  come  through  the 
boundless  prodigality  of  the  Empress.  He  con- 
siders the  plan  of  campaign  against  the  Turks  a 
project  likely  to  lead  Russia  to  utter  ruin,  and  he 
is  personally  much  incensed  against  the  Emperor, 
whom  he  regards  as  the  prime  mover  in  the 
matter.’ 

When  the  war  had  broken  out,  Catherine 
objected  to  the  Grand  Duke’s  taking  part  in  it. 
‘ It  would  be  a fresh  inconvenience,’  she  wrote  to 
Patiomkine.  She  allowed  him  to  go  to  Finland, 
during  the  Swedish  war;  but  Knorring,  who 
commanded  the  army  in  the  field,  declared  after- 
wards that  he  had  been  commanded  not  to 
communicate  to  his  Highness  any  plan  of  opera- 
tions. In  1789,  when  there  was  question  of  a 


4o8  CATHERINE  II.  of  RUSSIA 

rupture  with  Prussia,  the  situation  of  Paul 
assumed  a certain  likeness,  irritating  for  Catherine, 
but  still  more  threatening  for  him,  with  that 
occupied  by  Peter  during  the  last  years  of 
Elizabeth’s  reign.  Dark  rumours  were  in  the 
air.  The  famous  Greek  project  of  the  Empress 
was  yet  another  source  of  continual  conflict : on 
the  part  of  the  Grand  Duke  it  met  with  open 
opposition.  Finally,  in  the  course  of  the  changes 
which  came  about  from  year  to  year  in  those  who 
were  about  the  Empress,  Paul  sometimes  went 
so  far  as  to  forget  his  duty  as  a son,  and,  in 
return,  the  favourites,  whether  Patiomkine  or 
Zoubof,  did  not  feel  obliged  to  be  very  respectful 
to  his  Highness.  One  day,  at  table,  the  Grand 
Duke  having  approved  of  an  idea  put  forward 
by  Zoubof,  ‘ Have  1 said  anything  stupid  ? ’ said 
he. 

The  young  count  was  frequently  in  difficulties 
about  money.  In  1793,  when  Catherine  was 
engaged  in  looking  through  the  accounts  of  the 
court  banker,  Sutherland,  who  had  made  some 
bad  speculations,  and  was  on  the  point  of  sus- 
pending payment,  her  secretary,  Dierjavine, 
comes,  in  his  enumeration  of  the  assets,  to  a sum 
due  to  the  banker  ‘from  a person  in  high  position, 
but  who  has  the  misfortune  not  to  be  loved  by 
the  Empress.’  Catherine  was  not  long  in  dis- 
covering who  was  meant.  ‘ How  absurd  ! ’ she 
cries ; ‘ what  does  he  want  with  such  sums  ? ’ 
Dierjavine  ventures  to  observe  that  the  late 
Prince  Patiomkine  had  been  accustomed  to  borrow 
much  larger  sums  ; he  points  out  some  in  Suther- 
land’s assets.  The  Empress  pays  no  heed,  and 
the  examination  of  the  accounts  goes  on.  They 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  409 

come  to  another  item  of  the  ‘ person  in  high 
position.’  ‘ Another !’ cries  Catherine,  furiously. 
‘No  wonder,  after  that,  Sutherland  became 
bankrupt ! ’ Dierjavine  thinks  the  occasion 
favourable  to  pay  a bad  turn  to  the  new  favourite, 
Plato  Zoubof,  by  whom  he  does  not  consider 
himself  sufficiently  well  paid.  He  turns  to  a 
long  sum  recently  put  to  his  account.  The 
Empress,  without  replying,  rings  a bell.  ‘ Is 
there  any  one  in  the  secretary’s  room  ? ’ she  asks. 
There  is  Vassili  Stiepanovitch  Popof.  ‘Send 
him  in.’  Popof  enters.  ‘ Sit  down  there,  and  do 
not  leave  me  till  the  end  of  this  report.  This 
gentleman  ’ (pointing  to  Dierjavine)  ‘ wishes  to 
come  to  blows  with  me,  I think.’ 

At  this  perie)d.'J:he  Grand  Duke  lives  with  his 
wife  at  Gatchina  or  Pavlovsk,  entirely:..§,^art  from 
his  mother  and  also  from  his  children,  who  are 
with  her,  and  whom  he  sometimes  does  not  see 
for  months  together.  To  see  them  he  requires 
the  permission  of  Count  Saltykof,  their  governor. 
We  have  already  spoken  of  the  opinion,  general 
enough  during  the  last  years  of  Catherine’s  reign, 
according  to  wEich  she  intended  to  disinherit  her 
son.  This  measure  was  Hoped  ibr~by  a large 
number  of  persons.  A manifesto  deciding  this 
important  point  was  anxiously  expected.  It  was 
thought  that  it  would  appear  on  January  i,  1797. 
According  to  one  version,  the  manifesto  was 
already  drawn  up,  and  was  intended  to  inaugurate 
constitutional  government  in  Russia  under  the 
sceptre  of  Alexander,  the  character  of  Paul  being 
utterly  opposed  to  the  adbj^Ioh  of  this  form  of 
government.  In  the  memoirs  of  Engelhardt,  in 
a fragment  of  the  memoirs  of  Dierjavine,  which 
27 


410  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

has  been  preserved,  there  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
some  reference  to  a testament  of  the  Empress, 
having  the  same  object,  except  for  the  enigmatic 
and  doubtful  introduction  of  constitutionalism,  so 
little  in  accord  with  the  ideas  then  prevailing  in 
the  mind  of  Catherine.  The  Ode  written  by 
Dierjavine  for  the  coronation  of  Alexander  seems 
to  allude  to  it,  as  well  as  a curious  document 
which  circulated  after  the  death  of  the  Empress 
under  the  title,  Catherine  II.  in  the  Elysian 
Fields.  The  sovereign  reproaches  Bezborodko, 
to  whom  the  testament  in  question  was  supposed 
to  have  been  confided,  with  having  inflicted  the 
reign  of  Paul  on  her  country. 

It  is  certain  that  in  alluding,  frequently  enough, 
in  her  correspondence,  to  the  future  of  Russia 
after  her  death,  Catherine  never  speaks  of  the 
reign  of  her  son.  It  is  always  Alexander  whom 
she  speaks  of  as  her  heir.  According  to  certain 
authorities,  she  finally  took  stringent  measures 
against  the  difficulties  that  she  anticipated  on  the 
part  of  the  natural  heir. 

Mother  and  son  now  met  only  in  official 
ceremonies.  exchanged  ceremonious 

letters.  During  the  very ^bft  visit  of  the  Grand 
Duke  to  the  army  in  Finland,  where  he  soon 
discovered  that  he  had  nothing  to  do,  the  cor- 
respondence-is  almost  daily.  It  recalls  a little 
that  of  the  King  of  Spain  with  Maria  of 
Neubourg,  in  the  version  that  Victor  Hugo  has 
given  of  it.  Here  is  a specimen  : — 

‘ My  dear  Mother, — The  letter  of  your  Imperial 
Majesty  has  caused  me  the  greatest  pleasure, 
and  I am  deeply  touched  by  what  is  said  in  it. 
I beg  her  to  accept  the  expression  of  my  grati- 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  41 1 


»de,  and  at  the  same  time  that  of  the  respect 
£md  affection  with  which  I am  . . 

Here  is  Catherine’s  reply  : — - 

‘ I have  received,  my  dear  son,  your  letter  of 
the  5th,  with  the  expression  of  your  sentiments, 
to  which  mine  respond.  Good-bye.  I hope 
you  are  well.’ 

The  letters  are  all  after  this  fashion,  almost 
without  variation. 


IV 

What  bears  witness  against  Catherine  in  these 
unhappy  events — the  seamy  side  of  the  splen- 
dours of  the  great  reign — is  the  way  in  which 
she  acted  in  regard  to  another  son,  in  whom 
there  was  nothing  to  alarm  her  ambition  or  her 
responsibility  as  a sovereign.  She  had,  as  we 
know,  a second  son,  a love-dijld,  who  was  known 
as  Bobrin  ski.  Did  she  love  him?  It  does  not 
seem  so.  Did  she  look  after  his  welfare?  She 
gave  him  enough  to  live  comfortably,  to  travel 
abroad,  and  even  to  commit  some  extravagances. 
He  carried  them  to  excess : she  hears  of  it, 
and  betrays  an  astonishing  indifference  on  the 
subject. 

‘ What,’  she  writes  to  Grimm,  ‘ is  this  affair  of 
Bobrinski  ? The  young  man  is  singularly  un- 
concerned. ...  If  you  could  manage  to  find 
out  the  state  of  his  affairs  at  Paris,  you  would 
oblige  me.  . . . However,  he  ought  to  be  well 
able  to  pay  his  way ; he  has  30,000  roubles  a 
year.’ 

Two  years  afterwards  she  writes — 

‘ It  is  tiresome  that  M.  Bobrinski  will  get  into 

o 


4ia 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


debt ; he  knows  the  amount  of  his  income 
and  is  quite  honest.  Beyond  that,  he  h^ 
nothing.’ 

It  is  thus  that  she  announces  her  resolution 
not  to  meet  the  debts  of  this  son  ; beyond  the 
modest  quota  that  she  allows  him,  he  and  his 
creditors  must  not  count  upon  her.  And  she 
keeps  her  word.  At  the  end  of  1787  young 
Bobrinski  is  in  Paris,  in  the  greatest  distress, 
several  million  francs  in  arrears,  besides  the 
amount  that  he  owes  in  London,  whence  he  has 
just  fled  his  creditors.  For  one  thing,  he  has 
given  the  Marquis  de  Ferrieres  a bill  of  credit 
for  1,400,000  francs.  Catherine  up  to  now  has 
made  no  attempt  to  arrest  this  disordered  career. 
She  now  makes  up  her  mind  to  act ; she  recalls 
the  young  man  to  Russia,  and  confines  him  to 
Revel,  where  she  has  all  his  movements  carefully 
watched,  without,  however,  caring  to  see  him  or 
to  know  what  becomes  of  him.  As  long  as  he 
leaves  her  in  peace,  aiid  does  not  ask  her  for 
money,  and  she  does  not  hear  him  referred  to, 
she  is  quite  satisfied. 

Nothing  could  be  more  definite  than  that. 
But  is  there  no  touch  of  nature  in  the  heart  of 
this  insensible  mother?  How  can  we  maintain 
the  contrary  ? But  how  also  can  we  affirm  it  ? 
We  have  seen  her  relations  with  her  son.  But 
now  let  us  see  her  relations  with  her  grand- 
children. From  1779  onwards,  every  day  at  half- 
past ten,  the  little  Alexander  is  brought  to  her. 
‘ I have  said  it  to  you  before  and  I say  it  to  you 
again,’  she  writes  to  Grimm,  ‘ I dote  on  the  little 
monkey.  . . . Every  day  we  make  new  acquaint- 
ances, that  is  to  say  that  of  every  toy  we  make 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  413 

ten  or  twelve,  and  we  try  which  of  the  two  can 
best  develop  his  talents.  It  is  extraordinary  how 
industrious  we  have  become.  . . . After  dinner 
my  little  monkey  comes  back  as  often  as  he  likes, 
and  he  spends  three  or  four  hours  a day  in  my 
room.’  The  same  year  she  begins  to  teach  his 
A.B,C.to  ‘Mr.  Alexander,  who  cannot  yet  talk, 
and  who  is  only  a year  and  a half  old.’  As  we 
have  seen,  she  makes  his  clothes  for  him.  ‘ This 
is  how  he  has  been  dressed  ever  since  he  was  six 
months  old,’  she  says,  when  sending  to  Grimm 
the  facsimile  of  a costume  of  her  invention.  ‘ All 
that  is  sewn  together,  and  goes  on  at  once,  and 
fastens  behind  with  four  or  five  little  hooks.  . . . 
There  is  no  ligature  anywhere,  and  the  child 
scarcely  knows  that  he  is  being  dressed : his 
arms  and  legs  are  put  into  the  dress  at  once,  and 
it  is  all  done ; it  is  a stroke  of  genius  on  my  part, 
this  dress.  The  Kinsf  of  Sweden  and  the  Prince 
of  Prussia  have  demanded  and  received  a pattern 
of  the  dress  of  Mr.  Alexander.’  Then  come  the 
inevitable  anecdotes  that  we  find  in  the  letters  of 
all  mothers,  in  which  are  narrated  day  by  day 
the  great  deeds  of  the  infant  prodigy,  the  clever 
sayings,  the  indications  of  intelligence,  ‘wonder- 
ful for  his  age.’  One  day  when  the  precious 
‘little  monkey’  is  ill  and  shivering  with  fever, 
Catherine  finds  him  at  the  door  of  her  room, 
wrapped  up  in  a great  cloak.  She  asks  what  that 
is  for,  and  the  child  replies,  ‘ It  is  a sentinel  dying 
of  cold.’  One  day  he  asks  one  of  the  Empress’s 
femmes  de  chambre  whom  he  is  like.  ‘Your 
mother,’  she  replies;  ‘you  have  all  her  features, 
her  nose,  her  nmoth.’  ‘No,  not  that;  but  my 
temper,  my  ways,  what  are  they  like  ? ’ ‘ Oh,  in 


414  CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSL 

that  you  are  more  like  grandmamma  than  any- 
body.’ Thereupon  the  little  Grand  Duke  throws 
his  arms  round  the  old  woman’s  neck,  and  kisses 
her  effusively.  ‘ That  is  what  1 wanted  you  to 
say ! ’ 

This  story  is  very  significant  in  regard  to  the 
place  that  Paul  and  Catherine  occupied  respec- 
tively in  this  family,  in  which  the  widow  of 
Peter  III.  usurps  all  the  supremacy.  Read  one 
more  passage  from  a letter  to  Grimm,  referring  to 
the  adored  little  being  : ‘ He  will,  to  mythinking, 
become  a most  wonderful  personage  indeed, 
provided  the  secondaterie  does  not  hinder  his 
progress.’ 

Secondat,  secondaterie,  are  words  after  the 
manner  of  Catherine,  used  by  her  to  describe  her 
son  and  her  daughter-in-law,  as  well  as  the 
educational,  political,  and  all  kinds  of  ideas  that 
prevail  at  Pavlovsk,  and  are  in  general  entirely 
opposed  to  her  own. 

The  little  Constantine  docs  not  at  first  get  into 
the  good  graces  of  his  grandmother  to  the  same 
extent  as  his  brother.  Catherine  finds  him  too 
frail,  too  delicate,  for  an  Empress’s  grandson. 
‘ As  for  the  other,’  she  says,  after  having  spoken 
enthusiastically  of  Alexander,  ‘ I would  not  give 
ten  sous  for  him  ; I am  very  much  mistaken  if  he 
is  likely  to  live  very  long.’  But  by  and  by  the 
younger  wins  his  way.  With  time  the  child 
grows  and  becomes  stronger,  and,  dreams  of 
Byzantine  sovereignty  showing  themselves  on 
the  horizon,  the  affection  of  Catherine  awakens 
little  by  little  for  the  nursling  of  the  Greek 
Helen. 

Alas!  it  must  needs  be  said  that  her  state 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  415 

policy  plays  its  part,  and  even  a main  part,  in 
this  chapter  of  the  great  sovereign’s  history. 
Policy!  we  are  sure  to  find  that  wherever  we 
foltow- Catherine : in  her  feelings  as  in  her 
thoughts,  in  her  likes  as  in  her  dislikes,  and  her 
family  feelings  themselves  make  no  exception  to 
the  rule.  It  is  there,  to  our  mind,  that  we  must 
seek  the  starting-point  and  the  solution  of  all  the 
doubts,  all  the  enigmas,  to  which  the  study  that 
this  book  is  devoted  to  may  give  rise.  Naturally, 
as  we  think,  in  this  woman,  who,  in  certain  sides 
of  her  character  and  certain  details  of  her  conduct, 
deserves  all  reprobation,  as  on  other  sides  she 
merits  all  the  praise,  the  moral  sensibility,  without 
being  of  a high  order,  was  neither  absent,  as 
some  have  fancied,  nor  yet  deadened,  nor  vitiated 
and  reduced  to  the  level  of  the  lowest  instincts. 
Her  heart  was  on  a level  with  her  mind,  which, 
as  we  have  intimated,  never  reached  a very  great 
elevation.  She  could  love,  but  she  subordinated 
love,  as  she  subordinated  everything  else,  to  the 
motive  force  of  her  life,  which  was  of  exceptional 
force  and  vigour ; she  lived,  above  all  things,  by 
and  for  politics.  At  one  time  she  loved  the 
handsome  Orlof  because  he  was  handsome,  but 
also  because  he  declared  that  he  would  risk  his 
life  to  give  her  a crown,  and  she  believed  him 
capable  of  carrying  out  his  word.  She  was  cold 
and  even  harsh  towards  Paul,  a little  because  she 
had  not  had  the  leisure  to  develop  the  maternal 
sentiments,  thwarted  from  the  cradle,  but  very 
much  because  she  saw  in  him  a dangerous  riva 
in  the  present,  and  a pitiful  successor  in  the 
future.  She  manifested  a passionate  affection  for 
the  little  Alexander  under  the  influence  of  just 


ii6  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

opposite  causes,  in  the  same  category  of  ideas 
and  feelings. 

The  letters  that  she  wrote  to  her  grandchildren 
when  she  was  away  from  them,  in  1783,  during 
her  stay  in  Finland,  in  1785,  when  she  spent 
some  time  in  Moscow,  and  in  1787,  during  her 
Crimean  tour,  are  full  of  freshness,  of  communi- 
cative warmth,  of  loving  abandonment.  It  was  a 
great  trial  to  her  not  to  have  them  with  her  on 
the  fairyland  roads  of  Taurida.  It  was  a reason 
of  economy  that  decided  her  to  cut  short  the 
endless  negotiations,  on  this  subject,  between  St. 
Petersburg  and  Pavlovsk  : every  day’s  delay  cost 
her  12,000  roubles.  One  may  judge  from  that 
what  must  have  been  the  total  expense  of  the 
tour,  which  all  Europe  looked  on  in  wonder- 
ment. 

Catherine  had  the  opportunity,  in  directing 
the  education  of  Alexander  and  Constantine,  of 
applying  her  own  theories  in  the  matter.  Her 
success  seems  to  have  been  doubtful.  The  sove- 
reign was  almost  alone,  it  would  seem,  in  being 
satisfied  with  the  progress  of  her  scholars.  La 
Harpe,  among  others,  did  not  share  her  opinion. 
He  had  often  to  complain  of  the  bad  instincts  and 
defects  that  he  found  in  the  elder.  He  gives 
several  unpleasant  enough  traits.  In  1796  the 
visit  of  the  young  King  of  Sweden  caused 
comparisons  to  be  made,  not  to  the  advantage  of 
the  two  boys.  Catherine,  however,  did  her  best, 
not  allowing  her  affection  to  hinder  her  from  a 
sometimes  necessary  severity.  One  day  she 
noticed  that  in  changing  the  squad  on  guard 
under  the  windows  of  the  palace  the  men  were 
kept  under  arms  longer  than  was  needful : it  was 


FAMILY  LIFE— THE  GRAND  DUKE  PAUL  417 

a sisfht  intended  for  the  little  Grand  Dukes.  She 
immediately  sent  for  their  tutor,  and  reprimanded 
him  severely.  The  service  of  the  state,  the 
military  service  in  particular,  was  not  made  for 
the  amusement  of  children.  If  the  Grand  Dukes 
complained,  they  were  to  be  informed  that  grand- 
mamma had  forbidden  it.  This  was  an  accidental 
instance  of  a very  wise  principle.  But  perhaps 
the  system  as  a whole  was  less  wise. 

Catherine  was  much  concerned,  and  she  was 
the  o.nly<)r^e  to  concern  herself,  as  to  the  marriage 
■oTher  granHchildren.  The  parents  were  not  even 
consulted.  Paul  was  scarcely  consulted,  indeed, 
in  regard  to  his  own  marriage.  Eleven  German 
princesses  were  successively  brought  to  Russia 
by  the  sovereign,  solicitous  as  to  the  well-being  of 
her  son  and  her  grandchildren  : three  Princesses 
of  Darmstadt,  three  Princesses  of  Wiirtemberg, 
two  Princesses  of  Baden,  and  three  Princesses  of 
Coburg.  Choice  was  to  be  made  from  the  lot. 
The  Princesses  of  Wiirtemberg  only  went  as  far 
as  Berlin,  Frederick  having  insisted  on  Paul  being 
sufficiently  gallant  to  come  half  way  to  meet  his 
fiancee.  It  was  Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  who 
was  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1776,  who  arranged  the 
marriage.  The  eldest  of  the  Princesses  was 
already  promised  to  the  Prince  of  Darmstadt,  but 
it  was  understood  that  he  would  give  her  up  if, 
as  Prince  Henry  wrote  to  his  brother,  ‘he  had 
the  least  good  feeling,’  and  did  not  desire  to 
trouble  the  happiness  of  two  states.’  The  Prince 
of  Darmstadt  did  indeed  prove  his  ‘ good  feeling.’ 
Being  deprived  of  the  eldest,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  younger,  ‘ because,  at  bottom, 
that  came  to  the  same  thing.’  Besides,  as 


4i8  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Frederick  gave  him  to  understand,  the  father  of 
the  Princess  had  not  waited  to  consult  him  before 
‘playing  for  the  biggest  stake  that  presented 
itself  to  his  daughter.’  He  had  had  no  difficulty 
beyond  that  of  finding  a Lutheran  minister  suf- 
ficiently ‘ enlightened  ’ to  make  the  future  Grand 
Duchess  understand  that  she  would  please  God 
by  changing  her  religion.  But,  as  the  court  of 
St.  Petersburg  had  sent  40,000  roubles  for  the 
cost  of  the  Princess’s  journey,  ‘a  real  help,’  as 
their  mother  said,  to  the  rickety  finances  of  the 
family,  that  difficulty  was  soon  overcome. 

Two  years  later,  the  Princesses  of  Darmstadt 
went  all  the  way  to  St.  Petersburg.  Then  came 
the  turn  of  the  two  Princesses  of  Baden-Durlach. 
As  they  were  orphans,  the  Countess  Chouvalof, 
widow  of  the  author  of  the  EpUre  a Ninon,  was 
sent  to  bring  them  over;  and  she  was  accom- 
panied by  a certain  Strekalof,  who  appears  to 
have  conducted  himself  like  a Cossack  who  had 
been  ordered  to  carry  off  girls  into  Georgia,  But 
the  German  courts  were  not  susceptible  at  this 
time.  On  i.ie  arrival  of  the  Princesses,  the 
Empress  .i.,  ked  to  see  their  trousseau.  Having 
examined  it,  she  said,  ‘ My  friends,  I was  not  so 
rich  as  you  when  I arrived  in  Russia.’ 

The  elder  remained  in  Russia,  and  married 
Alexander ; the  younger  returned  to  her  own 
country  : Constantine  would  not  have  her.  She^ 
was  only  fourteen,  and  not  yet  developed.  Later 
on  she  married  the  King  of  Sweden.  The  files 
which  were  given  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage 
of  Alexander  mark  the  last  brilliant  and  happy 
moment  of  the  reign  of  Catherine.  The  following 
epithalamium  was  composed  ; — 


FA  MIL  Y LIFE^  THE  GLAND  D UKE  PAUL  419 

‘ Ni  la  reine  de  Thebes  au  milieu  de  ses  filles, 

Ni  Louis  et  ses  fils  assemblant  les  families, 

Ne  formerent  jamais  un  cercle  si  pompeux, 

Trois  generations  vont  fleurir  devant  elle, 

Et  c’est  Elle  toujours  qui  charmera  nos  yeux, 

Fi^re  d’etre  leur  m^re  et  non  d’etre  immortelle  ; 

Telle  est  Junon  parmi  les  dieux  ! ’ 

The  year  after,  the  arrival  of  the  Princess  of 
Saxe-Coburg  with  her  three  daughters  produced 
less  effect.  This  time  Catherine  considered  that 
the  belongings  of  their  Highnesses  were  quite 
too  mean.  Her  own  penury  at  the  time  of  her 
arrival  in  Russia  was  exceeded.  The  wardrobe 
of  the  family  had  to  be  renewed  before  it  was 
presentable  to  the  court,  and  Constantine,  in 
spite  of  all,  was  still  unsatisfied.  He  ended, 
however,  by  deciding  on  the  youngest. 

Catherine,  then,  resolutely  disregarded  certain 
family  affections  and  responsibilities  imposed  on 
her  both  by  nature  and  the  proprieties ; she 
entered  into  others  with  at  least  equal  intensity. 
We  have  pointed  out  the  most  admissible  solu- 
tion, in  our  eyes,  of  this  moral  problem  ; we  do 
not  profess  that  it  answers  every  objection. 
But,  with  regard  to  the  great  figures  of  history, 
there  are  many  of  these  insoluble  enigmas,  in 
which  no  one  can  say  the  last  word. 


CHAPTER  III 

private  life FAVOURITISM 

I 

There  is  a whole  legend  in  regard  to  the  love 
affairs  of  Catherine.  We  shall  try  to  replace  it 


420  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

by  a few  pages  of  history.  It  is  certainly  not  In 
the  character  of  historian  that  Laveaux  has  re- 
corded Catherine’s  first  taste  of  intrigue,  at  a 
time  when  she  had  not  yet  arrived  in  Russia. 
Even  at  Stettin  she  would  have  had  as  lover  a 
Count  B.,  who  imagined  that  he  was  marrying 
her,  when  leading  one  of  her  friends  to  the  altar. 
It  is  an  absurd  fabrication.  The  small  courts  of 
Germany  were  certainly  not  temples  of  virtue ; 
nevertheless,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  princesses 
were  not  exactly  on  the  streets.  Afterwards,  at 
Moscow  and  at  St.  Petersburg,  Laveaux  shows  us 
Catherine  abandoning  herself  to  the  first  comer, 
in  the  house  of  a Countess  J.,  where  she  had  in- 
numerable lovers,  who  had  no  idea  who  she  was. 
Saltykof  gives  place  to  a Venetian  actor  named 
Dalolio,  who,  in  turn,  arranges  new  rendezvous  for 
his  mistress  of  a day  in  the  house  of  lelaguine. 
In  all  this  Laveaux  echoes  mere  on  dits  without  the 
slightest  shadow  of  proof.  Sabatier  de  Cabre  is  a 
witness  really  well  informed  and  really  serious,  and 
one,  too,  who  cannot  be  suspected  of  partiality. 
Now,  in  a memorandum  drawn  up  by  him  in  1772, 
we  read  rd  Though  not  free  from  reproach,  she  is 
far  from  the  excess  of  which  she  has  been  accused ; 
nothing  has  been  proved  beyond  the  three  known 
connections — with  M.  Saltykof,  the  King  of 
Poland,  and  Count  Orlof.’ 

On  arriving  in  Russia,  Catherine  finds  a court 
and  society,  we  dare  not  say  more  debauched  than 
those  of  the  other  great  European  centres,  but  at 
least  equally  so,  and,  to  crown  it  all,  a form  of 
regal  debauchery,  similar  also,  though  with  an 
inversion  of  roles,  to  the  examples  afforded 
elsewhere  by  the  morals  of  the  time,  by  French 


PRIVA  TE  LIFE— FA  VO  URITISM  42 1 

royalty  among  others.  This  is  favouritism. 
Since  the  death  of  Peter  I.  the  throne  of  Russia 
has  been  constantly  occupied  by  women  ; they 
have  lovers,  as  Louis  XV.  has  mistresses,  and, 
when  fhe  im.perial  lover  is  called  Biron,  he  is  as 
powei/ful  in  Russia  as  a royal  mistress,  when  she 
is  cmled  Pompadour,  can  be  in  France.  As 
Louis  XIV.  married  Madame  de  Maintenon,  so 
EU^abeth  marries  Razoumofski.  He  is  only  the 
■^h  of  a little  Russian  peasant,  once  choir-boy  in 
the  imperial  chapel;  but  Scarron’s  widow  is  of 
no  very  illustrious  line.  Choubine,  who  had 
preceded  Razoumofski,  was  a mere  soldier  in 
the  Guards  : he  was  at  all  events  the  equivalent 
of  the  du  Barry.  And,  going  back  a little  further, 
when,  by  tlie  cradle  of  Louis  XIV,,  royalty  had 
provisionally  fallen  to  the  female  line,  the  presence 
of  Signor  Mazarini  on  the  steps  of  the  throne 
must  have  seemed  not  less  extraordinary  to  the 
people  who  are  easily  astonished  than,  a hundred 
and  fifty  years  later,  that  of  Patiomkine,  Need 
one  even,  to  parallel  the  favourites  of  Catherine, 
go  back  so  far  ? Struensee,  Godoy,  Lord  Acton, 
are  contemporaries. 

Favouritism  in  Russia  is  what  it  is  or  has  been 
elsewhere,  allowing  for  the  difference  of  scale.  It 
is  just  this  which  gives  it,  under  the  reign  of 
Catherine,  a place  apart.  This  time  it  is  a 
woman  who  has  the  gift  of  going  to  extremes 
in  everything.  She  has  favourites,  as  Elizabeth 
and  Anne  have  had  ; but  urged  by  her  tempera- 
ment, her  character,  her  inclination  to^do  things 
grandly,  she  gives  unparalleled  proportions  to 
this  u.sual,  traditional  order  or  disorder  of  things. 
Anne  merely  made  Btihren  the  groom  a Duke  of 


422  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

Courland  ; Catherine  makes  Poniatowski  King  of 
Poland.  Elizabeth  was  content  with  two  ad- 
mitted favourites,  Razoumofski  and  Chouvalof ; 
Catherine  has  them  by  dozens.  Nor  is  this  all. 
Her  mind  is  not  only  of  vast  reach,  scorning  the 
ordinary  limits,  passionately  desirous  of  what  lies 
beyond ; it  is  also,  and  especially,  imperious, 
absolute,  disregardful  of  established  rules,  but 
readily  turning  into  rule  or  law  the  inspiration  of 
the  moment,  will  or  caprice.  With  Anne  and 
^Elizabeth,  favouritism  is  a'  mere  caprice ; with 
Catherine  it  becomes  almost  an  institution  of  state. 

1 1 is  only  gradually,  however,  that  things  reach 
this  height.  Up  to  1772  Catherine  is  merely  a 
sovereign  who  takes  her  pleasures  as  all  those 
who  preceded  her  on  the  same  throne  have  done. 
Her  caprices  are  talked  of  just  as  were  those  of 
Elizabeth,  in  the  most  unconcerned  way.  Writ- 
ing to  Frederick,  the  Comte  de  Solms  does,  it 
is  true,  a propos  of  Gregory  Orlof,  make  this 
observation,  that  ‘ one  might  find  to-day  artisans 
and  lackeys  who  have  been  seated  with  him  at 
the  same  table’;  but  he  adds,  ‘One  is  so  ac- 
customed to  favouritism  in  Russia,  so  little  sur- 
prised at  any  rapid  ascent,  that  one  can  but 
applaud  the  choice  of  a young  man  who  is  mild 
and  polished  in  his  manners,  who  betrays  neither 
pride  nor  vanity,  who  lives  with  his  old  acquaint- 
ances on  the  same  terms  of  familiarity,  and  never 
loses  sight  of  them  in  the  crowd,  avoiding  mixing 
himself  up  in  affairs,  except  sometimes  to  recom- 
mend a friend.’  Gregory  Orlof,  it  is  true,  does 
not  long  content  h’mself,  or  rather  Catherine  is 
not  contented  on  his  behalf,  with  this  modest  and 
retiring  part,  and  the  Comte  de  Solms  writes 


FJ?/VA  TE  LIFE- FA  VO  URITISM  423 

later  on : ‘ Her  Majesty’s  passion  having  in- 

creased, she  has  wished  to  bring  Orlof  into 
affairs.  She  has  put  him  into  the  commissions 
established  for  the  reform  of  government’  And 
it  is  then,  if  we  may  believe  the  Prussian  am- 
bassador, that  discontent  breaks  out  The 
hetman  Razoumofski,  Count  Boutourline,  both 
generals  aides-de-camp,  do  not  willingly  suffer 
that  a man  who  has  been  so  far  below  them, 
just  before,  should  now  become  their  equal. 
Other  lords,  princes,  and  generals  are  scandal- 
ised at  being  obliged  to  wait  in  the  Sieur  Orlof’s 
antechamber,  to  be  admitted  to  his  lever.  Count 
Cheremetief,  the  high  chamberlain,  one  of  the 
first  and  wealthiest  lords  of  the  land,  as  well  as 
all  whom  their  offices  oblige  to  accompany  the 
Empress’s  carriage  on  horseback,  see  with  dis- 
satisfaction the  favourite  seated  in  the  coach 
beside  their  sovereign,  while  they  trot  by  at 
the  side. 

But  that  is  an  old  tale,  and  those  of  the  great 
Russian  lords  who  remember  the  favouritism  of 
Biron  under  the  reign  of  the  Empress  Anne,  the 
Bironovchtchina,  as  the  detested  period  has  been 
called,  must  find  the  present  state  of  things  very 
acceptable  in  comparison,  especially  as  Gregory 
Orlof  rarely  shows  much  inclination  to  avail  him- 
self of  the  somewhat  forced  part  that  the  loving 
attentions  of  Catherine  impose  upon  him  in  the 
government  of  the  country.  His  ambitious  fits 
are  few  and  far  between.  Generally,  as  we  have 
pointed  out,  he  merely  obeys  the  exigencies  of 
the  sovereign  in  this  respect,  and  with  a con- 
strained and  unwilling  air.  He  is  backward  and 
retiring,  a lover  of  voluptuous  ease,  careless  and 


424  CA  THERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

inoffensive.  On  the  giddy  heights,  in  the  intoxi- 
cating atmosphere,  where  the  stroke  of  fortune 
has  suddenly  raised  him,  he  lives  in  a half  dream, 
and  a day  comes  when  his  reason  gives  way 
altogether,  sinking  into  the  black  abyss  of 
madness. 

With  him  the  weakness  of  Catherine  ^as  an 
excuse,  a defence ; the  man  has  risked  his  life 
for  her,  the  man  has  given  her  a crown,  and  she 
loves  him,  or  imagines  she  loves  him,  with  a love 
not  only  of  the  senses.  Separated  from  him,  she 
will  suffer  in  all  his  sufferings,  and  at  his  death 
she  will  shed  real  tears,  tears  coming  from  the 
heart. 

The  scandal  really  commences  only  after  the 
disgrace  of  this  first  favourite.  With  Vassiltch- 
kof,  in  1772,  it  is  the  mere  lust  of  the  flesh,  gross 
and  shameless.  With  Patiomkine,  in  1774,  it 
is  the  division  of  power  with  mere  chance  lovers 
that  enters  into  the  history  of  the  reign.  Then 
comes  the  long  procession  of  passing  favours  : in 
June  1778  the  Englishman  Harris  announces  the 
elevation  of  Korssakof ; in  August,  he  speaks  of 
competitors  who  are  already  canvassing  his  suc- 
cession, some  supported  by  Patiomkine,  others 
by  Panine  and  Orlof  acting  in  concert ; in  Sep- 
tember, it  is  a certain  Strahof,  ‘ a low  buffoon,’ 
who  seems  to  win  the  day ; four  months  after, 
it  is  a major  of  the  Siemionofski  Guards,  a 
certain  Levachof,  a young  man  protected  by  the 
Countess  Bruce,  Svieikofski,  stabs  himself  in 
despair  at  seeing  a rival  preferred  to  himself. 
Then  Korssakof  seems  once  more  to  gain  the 
upper  hand.  He  struggles  with  a new  com- 
petitor, Stianof,  then  is  blotted  out  entirely  by 


PRI VA  TE  LIFE— FA  VO  URITISM 


425 


Lanskoi,  who  is  replaced  by  Mamonof,  who 
struggles  in  turn  with  Miloradovitch  and  Mik- 
lachefski ; and  so  on,  and  so  on.  It  is  the  rising 
of  a tide  that  is  to  go  on  for  ever ; in  1 792,  at 
sixty-three  years  of  age,  Catherine  begins  again 
with  Plato  Zoubof,  and  probably  also  with  his 
brother,  the  same  old  story  that  has  been  gone 
over  with  twenty  predecessors. 


Whatever  may  be  the  energy  of  her  character, 
'TT'and  the  good  opinion 


that  she-has-  ef  her  own  abilities,  Catherine  does 


_not  profess  that  they  can  suffice  to  themselves  and 
to  her  for  the  accomplishment  of  her  task;  she 
feels  the  need  of  support-dirnnr  a virile  mind  and 
, resolufionTTiowever  inferior  these  may  be  to  hers 
in  actual  value.  And  she  proves  this  necessity ! 
When  she  writes  to  Patiomkine  that  without 
him  ‘ she  is  without  arms,’  it  is  not  a mere  phrase. 
In  1788,  when  the  favourite  is  in  the  Crimea, 
the  letters  that  her  confidential  agent,  Garnofski, 
sends  to  him  from  St.  Petersburg  are  full  of 
pressing  objurgations,  showing  the  urgent  need 
of  his  return,  as  much  on  account  of  the  disorder 
into  which  his  absence  has  thrown  affairs,  as  of 
the  state  in  which  the  Empress  herself  is,  ‘ de- 
jected, subject  to  constant  terrors,  and  vacillat- 
ing from  lack  of  support’  And  it  is  here,  too, 
that  the  part  played  in  history  by  the  conqueror 
of  the  Crimea  and  his  fellows  differs  from  the  ex- 
amples given  at  the  same  time,  at  the  other  end 
of  Europe,  by  feminine  favouritism  : Louis  XV. 
simply  endures  the  influence  of  his  mistresses 
and  their  intervention  in  affairs  of  government : 
Catherine  encourages  and  demands  it 

Nor  is  this  all.  Lanskoi,  Zoubof,  are  twenty- 


28 


426  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

two  when  they  succeed  to  the  place  of  Patiom- 
kine.  Now  Nicholas  Saltykof,  who  retains  his 
freedom  of  speech  with  the  Empress,  expressing 
his  astonishment  at  a choice  so  utterly  out  of 
keeping  with  the  age  of  the  sovereign,  she  makes 
this  reply,  which  may  perhaps  cause  a smile,  but 
which  contains  a characteristic  trait  of  the  ‘ eter- 
nal feminine  ’ : ‘ Well,  I am  serving  the  empire  in 
the  education  of  such  capable  young  men.’  And 
she  believes  it ! In  her  anxiety  to  initiate  these 
young  ‘ scholars  ’ of  a particular  kind  into  the 
handling  of  the  great  interests  of  the  state,  there 
is  really  a sort  of  maternity.  And  it  is  thus  that 
in  her  the  irremediable  weaknesses  of  a woman’s 
nature  join  with  her  highest  vocation  in  necessi- 
tating the  presence  and  assistance  of  the  male 
near  this  proud  and  headstrong  female  autocrat. 

‘ Educated  ’ by  her,  trained,  rough-hewn,  raised 
from  step  to  step,  rapidly,  it  is  true,  in  the  hier- 
archy of  high  civil  and  military  functions,  Pa- 
tiomkine  finally  cuts  a certain  figure  as  all-pow- 
erful minister.  When  a whim  of  the  sovereign 
installs  him  for  a few  months  in  the  special 
suite  of  rooms  communicating  with  the  Em- 
press’s by  an  inner  staircase,  Zovitch  is  merely  a 
major  in  the  Hussars.  He  comes  afterwards  to 
fill  an  important  place  in  the  history  of  national 
education.  We  are  not  inventing:  this  favour- 
ite was  the  first  to  conceive  of  a military  school 
modelled  on  the  foreign  establisi-ments  of  the 
kind.  At  Chklof,  a magnificent  estate  near 
Mohilef,  which  was  given  him  as  a residence 
after  his  disgrace,  a school  founded  by  him 
for  the  children  of  poor  gentle-folk  served  as 
nucleus  for  the  establishment  of  the  Corps  de 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  427 

Cadets  of  Moscow,  now  the  principal  military 
gymnasium  of  the  city. 

Doubtless,  such  miracles  came  about  through 
a peculiar  concourse  of  circumstances  presiding 
over  the  material  and  moral  development  of  the 
great  empire,  become  so  entirely  her  own.  But 
the  complete  history  of  her  life  is  unintelligible ; 
indeed,  none  such  is  possible,  when  it  is  not  seenTiT 
this  light.  With  Zovitch,  Patiomkine,  Mamonof, 
and  ten  others,  the  court  of  Catherine  is  quite 
that  of  Gerolstein,  but  a Gerolstein  in  which  the 
comic,  the  grotesque,  and  the  extravagant  com- 
bine with  serious  elements,  which  make  of  this 
amalgam  one  of  the  most  singular  pages  in  the 
annals  of  the  world.  The  Russia  of  to-day  is 
still  a unique  country,  existing,  so  to  speak,  on 
the  verge  of  the  European  community  ; and  j 
Catherine  was  also  a most  extraordinary  woman.  | 
These  two  conditions  were  required  in  order  that  ! 
it  might  be  possible  for  operatic  heroes  to  thus  ■ 
enact  by  her  side,  on  one  of  the  great  stages  of  j 
the  universe,  the  great  parts  of  the  human  drama. 
But  these  conditions  being  realised,  and  the 
history  of  the  Russia  of  that  day  being  thus  played 
out  amid  pantomime  scenery,  it  would  be  idle  to 
try  to  explain  it  on  the  ordinary  lines  of  analysis, 
which  belong  to  the  ordinary  run  of  things. 

Lastly,  from  a final  point  of  view,  favouritism, 
such  as  Cathenine  practised  was  by  no  means  the  I 
reign  of  sensuality  pure  and  simple,  blindly  i, 
reaching  after  ever  new  pleasures.  There  was  | 
method  in  the  madness  of  Hamlet;  and  in  the* 
veins  of  Catherine  there  was  a little  Danish  blood. 
As  we 'have  said,  she  made  of  favouritism  an 
institution. 


428 


CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 


II 

We  read,  under  date  September  17,  1778,  the 
following  lines  in  the  despatch  of  the  day  sent 
from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Comte  de  Vergennes 
by  M.  de  Corberon  : — 

‘ We  may  observe  in  Russia  a sort  of  inter- 
(regnum  in  affairs,  caused  by  the  displacement  of 
one  favourite  and  the  installation  of  his  successor. 
This  event  eclipses  everything  else.  On  it  hang 
all  the  interests  of  a certain  side  of  things,  and 
even  the  cabinet  ministers,  succumbing  to  the 
general  influence,  suspend  their  operations  until 
the  choice  has  been  made,  and  things  fall  back 
into  the  accustomed  groove,  and  the  machine  is 
once  more  in  proper  order.’ 

All  this  is  an  essential  part  of  the  machinery  of 
government,  and,  this  once  lacking,  everything 
comes  to  a dead  stop.  The  interregnums  are, 
however,  as  a rule  of  very  short  duration.  Only 
one  lasts  for  several  months,  between  the  death 
of  Lanskoi  (1784)  and  the  succession  of  lermolof. 
Generally  it  is  a matter  of  twenty-four  hours,  and 
the  slightest  ministerial  crisis  is  a much  more 
serious  inconvenience  to-day.  There  is  no  lack 
of  candidates.  The  place  is  good,  and  those 
whose  ambition  it  tempts  are  legion.  In  the 
regiments  of  the  Guards,  the  traditional  home  of 
vremienchtchiks  (favourites),  there  are  always  two 
or  three  handsome  officers  who  turn  their  eyes  in 
the  direction  of  the  imperial  palace  with  a hope 
and  longing  more  or  less  concealed.  From  time 
to  time  one  of  them  makes  his  appearance  at 
court,  introduced  by  some  great  personage,  who 
tries  his  chance  of  making’  a ‘ creature  ’ for  him- 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  429 

self,  and  in  a post  which  is  the  source  of  all  riches 
and  honours.  In  1774  a nephew  of  Count  Zahar 
Tchernichef,  a Prince  Kantemir,  young,  dissolute, 
deep  in  debt,  beau  garfon,  prowls  for  some  weeks 
around  the  Empress.  Twice,  pretending  to  have 
lost  his  way,  he  reaches  the  private  apartments  of 
the  Empress.  The  third  time,  he  finds  her,  falls 
on  his  knees,  and  begs  her  to  use  him  as  she  will. 
She  rings,  he  is  seized,  put  in  a kibitka,  and  sent 
back  to  his  uncle,  who  is  advised  to  teach  his 
nephew  a little  wisdom.  Catherine  is  indulgent 
for  this  kind  of  folly.  Patiomkine,  more  for- 
tunate, makes  his  way  by  a bold  stroke  almost 
exactly  similar.  In  general,  however,  this  post,  so 
much  sought  after,  is  the  price  of  some  intriguing. 
After  1 776  it  is  Patiomkine,  now  honorary  favourite, 
who  brings  forw^ard  deputies  discovered,  trained, 
and  managed  by  him,  and  offers  them  to  the 
choice  of  the  sovereign.  But  both  they  and 
he  have  no  easy  task  to  keep  the  position,  once 
attained : an  absence,  an  illness,  a momentary 
default,  are  enough  to  ruin  all  their  chances. 
The  very  name,  so  expressive  in  Russian  {vremia 
means  time,  moment ; vremienchtchik,  the  man  of 
the  moment)  tells  the  chosen  ones  that  the  favour 
is  fleeting.  In  1772  it  is  at  Fokchany,  where  he 
has  gone  to  negotiate  peace  with  Turkey,  that 
Gregory  Orlof  learns  of  the  installation  of  Vassil- 
tchikof  in  the  place  that  he  has  imprudently 
quitted.  He  sets  out  at  full  speed,  covers  2000 
miles  without  stopping,  travelling  post,  without 
sleep,  almost  without  food,  in  order  to  reach  the 
capital  as  quickly  as  he  can.  In  spite  of  all,  he 
arrives  too  late.  In  1704,  Lanskoi',  fallen  ill,  has 
recourse  to  artificial  stimulants,  which  irreparably 


430  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

ruin  his  health.  Sometimes,  too,  on  the  height 
by  the  throne,  reached  at  a bound,  these  spoilt 
children  of  fate  grow  giddy  : Zovitch  thinks  he 
may  even  defy  her  who  has  raised  him  from 
nothingness.  Mamonof  even  imagines  that  he 
can  share  her  favour  with  a court  lady,  for  whom 
he  sighs.  It  is  over  in  an  instant : at  an  evening 
reception,  it  is  noticed  that  the  Empress  has 
gazed  attentively  at  some  obscure  lieutenant, 
presented  but  just  before,  or  lost  sight  of  till 
then  among  the  crowd  of  courtiers ; next  day,  it 
is  reported  that  he  has  been  appointed  aide-de- 
camp  to  her  Majesty.  What  that  means  is  well 
known.  Next  day  he  finds  himself  in  the  special 
suite  of  rooms,  in  which  the  abode  of  the  favourite 
is  as  brief  as,  in  our  days,  are  those  of  the  heads 
of  departments  in  the  ministerial  quarters.  The 
rooms  are  already  vacated,  and  everything  is  pre- 
pared for  the  new-comer.  All  imaginable  comfort 
and  luxury,  a splendidly  appointed  house,  await 
him  ; and,  on  opening  a drawer,  he  finds  a hundred 
thousand  roubles  (about  500,000  francs),  the 
usual  first  gift,  a foretaste  of  Pactolus.  That 
evening,  before  the  assembled  court,  the  Empress 
appears,  leaning  familiarly  on  his  arm,  and  on  the 
stroke  of  ten,  as  she  retires,  the  new  favourite 
follows  her. 

He  will  never  leave  the  palace  except  at  the 
side  of  his  august  mistress.  From  this  moment 
he  is  a bird  in  a cage.  The  cage  is  fine,  but 
it  is  carefully  guarded  : the  Empress  is  on  her 
guard  against  accidents,  such  as  the  generally 
far  from  reassuring  antecedents  of  the  chosen 
ones  might  reasonably  lead  her  to  fear.  And 
it  is  for  this  reason,  among  others,  that  we  can 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  431 

q-ive  no  credit  to  the  stories  that  represent  the 
favours  of  Catherine  as  shared  by  casual  comers 
and  goers.  No  doubt  the  place  to  which  Patiom- 
kine,  Lanskoi',  and  so  many  others  have  found 
their  way  is  not  an  inviolate  sanctuary  ; still,  it 
is  by  no  means  accessible  to  the  first  comer. 
At  the  outset  of  her  reign,  Catherine  certainly 
committed  some  imprudences,  which  caused  her 
no  little  inconvenience.  In  1762  an  officer  of 
the  name  of  Hrastof,  charged  with  the  inventory 
of  the  wardrobe  of  the  late  Empress  Elizabeth, 
was  accused  of  making  away  with  200,000 
roubles’-worth.  A woman  had  been  seen  wear- 
ing jewels  that  had  belonged  to  the  deceased 
sovereign.  She  was  recognised  as  one  of  the 

o c> 

innumerable  mistresses  of  the  favourite,  Gregory 
Orlof,  who  probably  shared  the  fair  lady’s  favours 
with  Hrastof  Now,  the  latter,  according  to  the 
report  of  the  French  chargd-d' affaires  Berenger, 
had  been  living  for  some  time  in  considerable 
intimacy  with  the  new  Czarina. 

Since  then,  Catherine  has  put  all  that  in  order  : 
the  favourite  is  a person  whose  slightest  move- 
ments are  subjected  to  an  invariable  routine  and 
a minute  scrutiny.  He  pays  no  visits,  accepts  no 
invitations.  Once  only  was  Mamonof  authorised 
to  accept  a dinner,  to  which  he  had  been  invited 
by  the  Comte  de  Segur.  Even  then  Catherine 
became  uneasy,  and  the  French  minister  and  hil*' 
guests,  on  rising  from  table,  see  the  Empress’s 
coach  under  the  windows : it  goes  slowly  back- 
ward and  forward,  with  a persistence  which 
betrays  all  the  distress  of  the  momentarily  aban- 
doned lover.  A year  later,  the  vremienchtchik 
nearly  loses  his  place  through  a very  natural 


432 


CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 


and  a very  innocent  infraction  of  the  severe 
discipline  to  which  he  is  subjected.  On  his 
birthday  the  Czarina  has  authorised  him  to  pre- 
sent her  with  a pair  of  earrings,  which  she  her- 
self has  purchased  for  the  sum  of  30,000  roubles. 
The  Grand  Duchess  sees  the  earrings  and 
admires  them  greatly : upon  which  Catherine 
makes  her  a present  of  them.  She  puts  them 
on,  and  next  day  she  summons  Mamonof  to  her, 
to  thank  him  for  having,  however  indirectly, 
contributed  to  this  unexpected  liberality.  He 
is  on  the  point  of  going,  considering  himself 
bound  to  obey  a command  from  one  so  high 
in  position ; but  the  Empress,  on  finding  it  out, 
falls  into  a violent  rage ; she  apostrophises  him 
in  violent  terms,  and  sends  to  the  Grand  Duchess 
the  most  severe  of  reprimands  : let  her  take  care 
never  to  do  it  again ! Paul  thinks  to  make 
himself  agreeable  by  sending  to  the  favourite  a 
snuff-box  set  with  diamonds;  Catherine  allows 
Mamonof  to  go  and  thank  the  Grand  Duke,  but 
not  by  himself : she  designates  the  particular 
person  who  is  to  accompany*  him.  Paul  refuses 
the  visit. 

We  must  add  that,  on  their  side,  the  favourites 
do  their  best  to  guard  against  the  danger  of  an 
unfaithfulness,  even  accidental,  which  would  put 
^em  into  competition  with  a rival  perhaps 
^pable  of  supplanting  them.  Their  power,  and 
it  is  great,  is  employed  in  a vigilance  not  less 
active  than  that  of  Catherine  herself.  So  long 
as  Patiomkine  is  in  favour,  and  he  is  in  favour, 
‘honorary’  after  a certain  time,  for  fifteen  years, 
from  1774  to  1789,  his  imperious  will  raises  an 
insurmountable  barrier  against  every  caprice  that 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  433 

he  does  not  choose  to  sanction.  He  can  even, 
at  need,  use  violence  to  her  who,  in  giving  her- 
self to  him,  has  found  a master  indeed. 

Catherine’s  choice,  it  should  be  noted,  falls, 
without  exception,  on  men  in  the  prime  of  life, 
and,  for  the  most  part,  of  Herculean  build.  As 
she  grows  older,  she  chooses  them  younger  and 
younger.  Of  the  two  brothers  Zoubof,  one  was 
twenty-two  and  the  other  eighteen  at  the  time 
when  she  was  first  attracted  by  them.  We  know 
the  age  of  Lanskoi,  and  the  circumstances  of  his 
premature  end. 

What  was  the  actual  number  of  favourites, 
from  the  day  of  Catherine’s  accession  to  the  day 
of  her  death  ? It  is  not  easy  to  say  with  absolute 
precision.  Only  ten  officially  occupied  the^^post, 
with  all  the  prnuIege§*"afTd  responsibilities  of  the 
post:  Gregory  Orlof,  from  1762  to  1772;  Vas- 
siltchikof,  from  1772  to  1774:  Patiomkine,  from 
1774  to  1776;  Zavadofski,  from  1776  to  1777; 
Zovitch,  from  1777  to  1778;  Korssakof,  from 
1778  to  1780;  Lanskoi,  from  1780  to  1784; 
lermolof,  from  1784  to  1785;  Mamonof,  from 
1785  to  1789;  Zoubof,  from  1789  to  1796.  But 
at  the  time  when  Korssakof  was  in  favour,  a 
crisis  came  about  which  called  forth  several 
aspirants,  and  brought  at  least  one  of  them, 
Strahof,  very  much  into  the  good  graces  of  the 
sovereign.  Strahof  never  occupied  the  specis^ 
apartments  of  the  favourite ; it  is  almost  certain, 
however,  that  he  took  the  place,  for  a short  time, 
of  the  official  favourite.  Very  likely  something 
similar  Happened  on, various  occasions.  On  visit- 
ing the  Winter  Palace,  shortly  before  the  death 
of  Catherine,  a traveller  was  particularly  struck 


434  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

by  the  decoration  of  two  little  rooms  close  to 
the  Empress’s  bedroom : the  walls  of  one  of 
these  rooms  were  completely  covered  with  minia- 
tures of  great  price,  set  in  gold,  and  representing 
different  lascivious  scenes  ; the  other  room  was 
similarly  decorated,  but  the  miniatures  were  por- 
traits, portraits  of  men  whom  Catherine  had 
known  or  loved. 

Among  these  men,  some  showed  themselves 
singularly  ungrateful  for  the  excess  of  favours 
which  Catherine  heaped  indiscriminately  upon 
them  a’.l.  She  herself  behaved  well  to  every  one 
of  them,  and  not  one,  even  of  those  who  were 
unfaithful  to  her,  had  to  suffer  the  weight  of  her 
wrath  and  vengeance.  For  she  was  betrayed 
and  abandoned  like  the  most  vulgar  of  mistresses  : 
all  her  power,  all  her  fascination,  and  the  im- 
mensity of  the  price  set  on  her  favour,  could  not 
shield  her  from  the  mishaps  that  have  tortured  the 
hearts  of  empresses  and  of  grisettes  alike  since 
the  beginning  of  the  world.  In  1780  she  sur- 
prises Korssakof  in  the  arms  of  the  Countess 
Bruce.  In  1789  it  is  Mamonof  who  gives  her  up 
to  marry  a freiline.  Taking  everything  into  con- 
sideration, it  is  she  who  was  the  least  changeable. 
Referring  to  the  departure  of  Mamonof,  simply 
sent  to  Moscow  with  his  lady,  with  whom  he  is 
soon  in  disagreement,  the  Comte  de  Segur  wrote 
i^n  a despatch  to  the  Comte  de  Montmorin — 

‘ One  can  shut  one’s  eyes  indulgently  on  the 
errors  of  a woman  who  is  a great  man,  when  she 
shows,  even  in  her  weaknesses,  such  mastery 
over  herself,  such  mercy,  and  such  magnanimity. 
It  is  rarely  that  one  finds  in  union  absolute 
power,  jealousy,  and  moderation,  and  such  a 


PRI VA  TE  LIFE— FA  VO  URITISM 


435 


character  could  only  be  condemned  by  a man 
without  a heart,  or  a prince  without  a weakness.’ 

Perhaps  the  Comte  de  Segur  was  too  in- 
dulgent. Perhaps,  too.  Saint- Beuve  was  not 
sufficiently  so,  when  he  observed  that  Catherine’s 
way  of  treating  her  lovers,  when  she  got  tired  of 
them,  so  different  from  that  of  Elizabeth  of 
England  and  Christina  of  Sweden,  really  told 
against  her.  That  she  should  load  them  with 
gifts,  instead  of  having  them  assassinated,  ‘ is  too 
much,  betrays  too  openly  the  scorn  that  she  has 
of  men  and  of  nations.’  There  is,  at  all  events, 
an  error  of  fact  in  this  severe  judgment : Catherine 
was  not  tired  of  either  Korssakof  or  Mamono 
when  she  learned  how  they  had  deceived  her. 
She  clung  to  them  still,  to  the  latter  especially, 
and  her  pride  was  not  alone  in  suffering  from 
the  disgrace  that  they  inflicted  upon  her.  Her 
weaknesses  were  often,  too  often,  those  of  a 
woman  who  takes  her  pleasure  where  she  finds 
it ; but  the  English  statesman  who  wrote  ‘ she 
was  a stranger  to  love,’  understood  very  little,  to 
our  mind,  of  the  psychology  of  a woman. 


Ill 

Before  making  up  her  mind  to  abandon  Gregory 
Orlof,  Catherine  endured  from  him  what  few 
women  would  have  endured.  In  1765,  seven 
years  before  the  rupture,  Berenger  writes  from 
St.  Petersburg  to  the  Due  de  Praslin  ; — 

‘ This  Russian  openly  violates  the  laws  of 
love  in  regard  to  the  Empress.  He  has  mis- 
tresses in  town,  who,  far  from  calling  down  the 
indignation  of  the  sovereign  through  their  com- 


436  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

plaisance  to  Orlof,  seem,  on  the  contrary,  to  gain 
her  favour  by  it.  The  senator,  Mouravief,  who 
had  found  his  wife  with  him,  attempted  to  make 
a sensation  by  demanding  a separation : the 
Empress  appeased  him  by  giving  him  some  land 
in  Livonia.’ 

But  at  last  things  get  to  such  a pitch  that 
Catherine  can  endure  it  no  longer,  and  she 
profits  by  the  absence  of  the  favourite  to  break 
her  chain.  At  the  moment  when  Orlof,  travelling 
post,  is  coming  to  reclaim  his  rights,  he  is  stopped 
by  command  a few  versts  from  St.  Petersburg, 
and  banished  to  his  estates.  But  he  will  not 
admit  that  he  is  beaten ; now  suppliant,  now 
menacing,  he  begs  to  be  allowed  to  see  the 
sovereign  again,  if  only  for  a moment.  She  has 
only  to  say  the  word  to  be  rid  for  ever  of  his 
importunities  : Patiomkine  is  already  at  hand,  and 
he  would  willingly  make  away  with  all  the  Orlofs 
at  once.  But  this  word  is  never  said.  She 
parleys,  comes  to  an  agreement,  and  finally  sends 
to  the  lover, — how  lightly  punished  for  a part 
that  might  justify  quite  other  measures ! — a plan 
of  agreement  which  is  a very  poem  of  supreme 
tenderness  of  heart ; the  past  forgotten,  an  appeal 
to  the  reason  of  the  guilty  one  that  painful 
mutual  explanations  may  be  spared,  the  necessity 
of  separation  for  a time,  indicated  how  mildly, 
almost  imploringly — nothing  is  wanting.  He  is 
to  take  leave  of  absence,  to  settle  at  Moscow,  or 
on  his  estates,  or  elsewhere,  if  he  will.  His 
allowance  of  1 50,000  roubles  a year  will  be  con- 
tinued, and  he  will  receive  100,000  roubles  in 
addition,  to  furnish  a house.  Meanwhile  he 
may  make  use  of  any  of  the  Empress’s  houses 


PRIVATE  LIFE-FAVOURITISM  437 

near  Moscow,  use  the  court  equipages  as  before, 
and  keep  the  servants  in  the  imperial  livery. 
Catherine  remembers  that  she  has  promised  him 
4000  peasants  for  the  victory  of  Tchcsme,  in 
which  it  happens  he  took  no  part ; she  adds  6000 
more,  whom  he  can  pick  out  as  he  likes,  in  any 
of  the  domains  of  the  crown.  And  as  if  she  were 
afraid  of  not  doing  enough  for  him,  she  multiplies 
the  proofs  of  her  munificence : now  a silver 
service,  and  then  another  ‘ for  ordinary  use,’  and 
then  a house  at  the  Tro'ilskaia  Pristagne,  furni- 
ture, and  everything  that  is  found  in  the  apart- 
ments that  had  belonged  to  the  favourite  in  the 
imperial  palace,  the  value  of  which  escapes  her 
reckoning.  In  return,  Catherine  exacts  only  a 
year’s  absence.  At  the  end  of  a year  the  ex- 
favourite will  be  better  able  to  realise  the  situa- 
tion. As  for  Catherine,  ‘ she  will  never  forget  all 
that  she  owes  to  the  family  of  Gregory  Orlof,  nor 
the  talents  with  which  he  is  personally  endowed, 
and  how  useful  they  may  be  to  the  nation.’  She 
desires  only  ‘a  mutual  repose,  which  she  will  do 
her  best  to  preserve.’ 

It  may  be  that  in  this  way  of  accommodating 
things  there  is  a little  fear  of  what  might  be  the 
result  of  hostility  on  the  part  of  a family  to  whicTt 
she  herself  has  given  such  power  in  her  empire  ; 
but  is  there  not  also  a genuine  tenderness  ? 
Eleven  years  later,  on  hearing  of  the  ex-favourite’s 
death,  Catherine  wrote — 

‘ The  loss  of  Prince  Orlof  put  me  into  a fever, 
with  such  delirium  during  the  night,  that  I had 
to  be  bled,’ 

It  is  in  June  1783  that  she  hears  the  fatal 
news,  and  two  months  after,  on  her  way  to 


438  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

Frederikshamn  to  meet  the  King  of  Sweden, 
she  stipulates  beforehand  that  he  will  not  speak 
to  her  of  this  catastrophe,  which  still  moves  her 
to  the  very  depths  of  her  being.  She  is  the 
first  to  speak  of  it,  with  an  effort  to  conceal  the 
agitation  which  so  distant  a past  never  fails  to 
awaken  in  her  mind.  Nevertheless,  she  has 
found  several  successors  to  the  lover  whom  she 
had  replaced  even  before  his  death.  Is  it  a mere 
infatuation,  as  Grimm  at  first  supposes,  which,  in 
I 778,  throws  her  into  the  arms  of  Korssakof 

‘Infatuated?  infatuated?’  she  replies  to  her 
confidant.  ‘ Do  you  not  know  that  this  term  is 
out  of  place  in  speaking  of  Pyrrhus,  King  of 
Epirus’  (the  name  she  gives  to  the  new  favourite), 
‘a  peril  to  painters,  a despair  to  sculptors  ? It  is 
the  admiration,  sir,  it  is  the  enthusiasm,  that  the 
masterpieces  of  nature  inspire ! Things  of  beauty 
fall  and  are  dashed  to  pieces  like  idols  before  the 
ark  of  the  Lord,  before  the  character  of  this 
mighty  man.  Never  does  Pyrrhus  make  a move- 
ment which  is  not  either  noble  or  graceful.  He 
is  radiant  as  the  sun,  he  radiates  light.  All  that 
is  not  effeminate,  but  male,  all  that  one  would 
have  it : in  a word,  it  is  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus. 
It  is  all  in  harmony;  nothing  is  out  of  place:  it 
is  the  effect  of  a mingling  of  the  priceless  gifts 
of  nature;  art  is  not  absent,  but  artifice  is  a 
thousand  leagues  away.’ 

We  may  admit  that  the  sentiment  which  in- 
spires this  language  in  her  is  neither  very  deep 
nor  very  delicate.  And  indeed  Korssakof  is  a 
mere  hector.  But  take  another  actor  in  this 
drama  of  passion,  Patiomkine,  the  man  of  genius, 
and  read  what  follows.  It  is  a letter  from  the 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM 


439 


favourite,  written  after  a lover  s quarrel  of  a few 
days’  duration.  Catherine  replies  in  the  margin, 
point  by  point.  A sort  of  treaty  of  eternal  peace 
and  love  is  thus  signed  and  sealed  by  the  re- 
conciled lovers : — 


In  Patiomkine's 
handwriting — 

‘ Permit  me,  dear  love,  to 
tell  you  how  I think  our 
quarrel  will  end.  Do  not 
be  surprised  that  I am 
concerned  in  regard  to  our 
love.  Besides  the  num.ber- 
less  favours  you  have 
showered  upon  me,  you 
have  also  given  me  a place 
in  your  heart.  I would  be 
there  alone,  and  above  all 
who  have  gone  before,  for 
none  has  loved  you  as  1 
love  you.  And  as  I am 
the  work  of  your  hands,  I 
would  find  rest  in  you  also  ; 
I would  have  you  delight 
in  doing  me  kindness;  I 
would  have  you  toil  for 
my  happiness,  and  find  in 
it  a solace  from  the  serious 
tasks  that  are  laid  upon 
you  by  your  high  position. 
Amen.’ 


In  Catherine  s 

handwriting — 


‘ The  sooner  the  better. 
Do  not  be  concerned. 


Hand  washes  hand. 

Sure  and  firm. 

He  is  and  will  be. 

I see  and  believe  it. 

I rejoice  at  it. 

That  is  my  greatest  joy. 

That  will  come  of  itself. 

Let  calm  return  to  your 
mind,  and  your  feelings 
have  free  course;  they  are 
loving,  and  will  find  the 
best  way  themselves.  End 
of  the  quarrel.  Amen.’ 


This  is  no  commonplace  exchange  of  vows, 
and  the  two  beings  who,  placed  at  the  summit  of 
human  greatness,  speak  of  their  love  in  these 
terms  are  no  vulgar  debauchees.  All  the  dreamy, 
troubled,  and  imperious  disposition  of  Patiomkine 
manifests  itself  in  these  lines,  as  does  the  tempera- 
ment, at  once  practical  and  exalted,  of  Catherine. 


440  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

It  is  by  her  judgment  that  the  sovereign  generally 
rules  the  favourite,  it  is  by  his  ardour  that  he 
often  carries  her  away.  A great  part  of  their 
correspondence  has  been  published.  There  never 
was  such  a correspondence  between  two  persons 
so  linked  by  a common  destiny.  The  turns  of 
phrase  generally  employed  by  Catherine,  especially 
during  the  early  years  of  their  connection,  could 
not  be  paralleled,  perhaps,  in  their  excessive 
familiarity,  in  the  correspondence  of  no  matter 
what  jeune  galante  of  the  time.  We  will  not 
dwell  on,  ‘ I embrace  you  a thousand  times,  my 
friend,’  ‘ Forgive  me  if  I am  troubling  you,  my 
heart,’  ‘ Do  you  see,  my  soul  ? ’ little  as  one 
expects  to  find  these  tender  expressions  from  the 
hand  of  an  Empress.  But  here  is  a note  which 
ends,  ‘ Good-bye,  my  bow-wow.’  ‘ Good-bye,  my 
gold  pheasant,’  we  read  elsewhere.  Or  again, 
‘ Good-bye,  papa.’  There  are  frequent  squabbles  : 
Patiomkine  has  a troublesome  disposition,  and  is 
sulky  or  furious  at  the  least  excuse.  She  writes  to 
him  thus  : ‘ If  you  are  not  more  amiable  to-day 
than  you  were  yesterday,  I — I — I — well,  I really 
won’t  eat  my  dinner.’  Is  there  an  allusion,  in  this 
other  note,  to  the  project  that  this  irascible  lover 
professed  at  one  time  of  going  into  a monastery  ? 
We  know  not.  ‘A  plan,’  writes  Catherine, 
‘ which  had  been  formed  four  or  five  months  ago, 
with  which  even  N.  B.,  the  town  and  suburbs, 
were  acquainted ; a plan  for  plunging  a dagger 
into  the  breast  of  his  friend,  on  the  part  of  one 
who  loves  us  the  most,  who  has  our  happiness 
always  at  heart ; does  such  a plan  do  credit  to  the 
mind  and  heart  of  him  who  has  conceived  it  and 
would  put  it  into  execution  ? ’ 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  441 

The  favourite,  as  one  may  imagine,  is  him- 
self not  behindhand  in  tender  flowers  of  speech. 
Only,  and  it  is  a curious  trait  of  this  astonishing 
idyl,  in  all  the  abandonment  of  his  amorous 
warmth,  he  never  for  a single  instant  forgets  the 
distance  between  them.  His  turns  of  phrase,  often 
more  passionate  and  intense,  always  preserve  a 
certain  solemnity,  never  follow  those  of  Catherine 
in  their  rather  trivial  freedom.  ‘If  my  prayer  is 
heard,  God  will  prolong  your  days  to  the  utmost 
limit,  O thou  merciful  mother ! ’ That  is  his 
most  customary  style.  He  never,  as  a rule,  uses 
the  tutoiement  except  in  this  form  of  invocation,  in 
which  he  seems  to  address  her,  the  work  of  whose 
hands  he  feels  himself  to  be,  as  he  would  address 
God.  We  have  other  fragments  of  love-letters 
of  Patiomkine,  not  addressed  to  Catherine,  in 
which  he  reveals  himself  as  an  accomplished 
virtuoso,  mingling  Oriental  fantasy  with  the 
reverie  of  the  North,  and  the  delicacy  of  the  most 
exquisite  models  that  the  West  has  furnished. 

‘ O my  life,  O sister  soul  of  mine,  how  can 
words  tell  thee  of  all  my  love  ? Come,  O my 
mistress  (soudarka  ma'ia),  hearken,  O my  friend, 
my  joy,  my  treasure  without  price,  gift  un- 
paralleled that  God  has  given  me ! . . . Darling 
{ntatouchka  goloubouchkd),  give  me  the  joy  of 
seeing  thee,  the  delight  of  rejoicing  in  thy  heart. 
. . . I kiss  with  all  my  love  thy  pretty  little  hands 
and  thy  pretty  little  feet.’ 

It  is  not  to  Catherine  that  Patiomkine 
writes  that.  Matouchka  she  is,  indeed,  but 
at  the  same  time,  and  always,  gossoudarinia 
(sovereign),  before  whom  one  bows  with  his 
forehead  in  the  dust,  even  when  speaking  of 

29 


442  CATHERINE  11.  OF  RUSSIA 

love  ; never  goloubouchka  (darling)  nor  sondarka 
(mistress). 

Called  to  the  post  of  favourite  in  1774, 
Patiomkine  makes  way,  two  years  later,  for 
Zavadofski.  The  lover  gives  place,  but  the  friend 
remains ; and  the  engagement  entered  into  at  the 
beginning  is  not  broken  as  yet.  It  will  scarcely 
be  so,  even  when,  just  before  the  death  of  the 
Prince  of  Taurida,  Zoubof,  installing  himself  as 
master  in  the  palace  as  well  as  the  heart  of  the 
sovereign,  leaves  no  room  for  one  who  had 
formerly  ruled  alone.  Till  that  time  there  is 
scarcely  a difference  to  be  traced  in  Catherine’s 
manner  towards  the  brilliant  adventurer,  whom 
she  allows  to  rule  over  her  court,  command 
her  armies,  govern  her  empire,  though  she  has 
already  broken  off  her  more  tender  relations  with 
him ; and  she  accepts  from  him  new  lovers,  while 
showering  upon  him  not  only  riches  and  honours, 
but  the  most  unmistakable  signs  of  an  unbroken 
affection. 

‘ Good-bye,  my  friend  ; take  care  of  yourself ; 
I embrace  you  with  all  my  heart.  Sacha  sends 
greetings.’ 

This  is  dated  June  29,  1789,  and  Sacha  is 
Mamonof,  the  reigning  favourite,  and  the  creature 
of  Patiomkine, 

‘ Sachenka  gref  -.you  and  loves  you  as  his 
own  soul,’^we  reau  m another  letter,  dated  May 
5,  1784  often  speaks  of  you.’ 

In  September  1777,  Patiomkine  receives  from 
the  sovereign  a present  of  1 50,000  roubles.  In 
1779  he  receives  an  advance  of  750,000  roubles  as 
his  annual  pension  of  75,000.  In  1783  Catherine 
pays  to  his  account  100,000  roubles  to  hasten  on 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  443 

the  erection  of  a palace  that  he  is  building,  which 
she  will  buy  from  him  for  several  millions,  and 
of  which  she  will  make  him  a present  immediately 
after.  He  is  Field-Marshal,  he  is  Prime  Minister, 
he  is  Prince,  he  has  all  the  distinctions,  all  the 
posts,  all  the  honours,  all  the  powers,  that  there 
are  to  be  bestowed.  At  the  time  of  the  annexa- 
tion of  the  Crimea,  during  the  second  Turkish 
war,  he  acts  as  master,  without  guidance  and 
without  control.  He  does  as  he  pleases,  follows 
his  own  devices,  and  Catherine  is  like  a little 
girl  who  bows  before  the  decree  of  a superior 
gfenius.  He  leaves  her  without  news  for  months 
together ; he  does  not  even  trouble  to  reply  to 
her  letters.  Then  she  complains,  but  timidly, 
almost  humbly : — 

‘ I have  been  betw'een  life  and  death  all  the 
time  that  I have  had  no  news  of  you.  ...  For 
God’s  sake  and  for  mine,  take  more  care  of 
yourself  than  you  have  done  in  the  past.  I 
am  afraid  of  nothing,  except  that  you  may  be  ill. 
. . . At  this  moment,  my  dear  friend,  you  are 
no  longer  a private  person  who  lives  as  he  likes 
and  does  as  he  pleases  : you  belong  to  the  state, 
to  me.’ 

Tender  appellationj  '•hat  of  ‘papa’  among 
others,  find  their  place  v nore  in  the  former 
lover’s  letters.  The  Empres  herself  again  in  the 
frequent  moments  of  discouragement  mto  which 
the  conqueror  of  the  Crimea  is  alw^y  thrown 
by  a momentary  reverse.  In  1787  an  attack 
of  the  Turks  on  Kinburn  makes  him  think  of 
resigning  his  command.  Catherine  will  not  hear 
jf  it. 

‘ Strengthen  your  mind  and  soul  against  all 


444  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

that  may  befall,  and  be  assured  that  you  will 
overcome  everything  with  a little  patience,  but 
it  is  a weakness  indeed  to  wish  to  quit  your  post 
and  hide  yourself  away.’ 

A few  weeks  later  a storm  destroyed  part 
of  the  fleet  brought  together  by  Patiomkine  at 
Sebastopol.  This  time  he  would  not  only 
abandon  the  army,  but  evacuate  the  Crimea. 

‘What  is  it  you  say? ’writes  Catherine.  ‘No 
doubt  you  thought  so  at  the  first  moment,  fancy- 
ing that  all  the  fleet  had  perished,  but  what 
would  become  of  the  rest  of  this  fleet  after  the 
evacuation  ? And  how  can  you  begin  a campaign 
by  the  evacuation  of  a province  which  is  not  even 
threatened?  It  would  be  better  to  attack  Otcha- 
kof  or  Bender,  thus  substituting  the  offensive 
for  the  defensive  attitude,  which  you  yourself  say 
is  less  politic.  Besides,  it  is  not  only  against  us 
that  the  wind  has  blown,  I imagine ! Courage ! 
courage ! I write  all  this  to  you  as  to  my  best 
friend,  my  pupil  and  scholar,  who  at  times  shows 
more  resolution  than  I,  but  at  this  moment  I have 
more  courage  than  you,  because  you  are  ill  and 
I am  well.  ...  I think  you  are  as  impatient 
as  a child  of  five,  whilst  the  affairs  under  your 
charge  at  this  moment  demand  an  imperturbable 
patience.’ 

She  adds  that  he  may  return  for  a time  to 
St.  Petersburg.  Is  he  afraid  that  some  one  will 
play  him  an  ill  turn  during  his  absence  ? ‘ Neither 

time,  nor  distance,  nor  any  one  in  the  world  will 
ever  change  my  way  of  thinking  in  regard  to 
you,  nor  the  feelings  I have  for  you.’ 

This  freedom  of  action  that  Catherine  allows 
to  'he  mar  whom  she  has  placed  her  confi- 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  445 

dence,  this  way  of  closing  her  eyes  on  his  pro- 
ceedings, in  order  to  pay  him  the  greater  com- 
pliment, is  only  the  application  of  a system  that 
we  know  already.  Occasions  are  not  wanting, 
however,  on  which  the  will  of  the  Empress  and 
her  personal  intervention  are  exercised  in  a direct 
and  effectual  manner.  There  are  then  frequent 
disagreements  between  the  two,  and  neither 
friendship  nor  love  hinder  Catherine  from  insist- 
ing on  her  authority  being  obeyed.  The  ill- 
temper  of  the  favourite  comes  out  plainly  enough  : 
he  is  now  sharp,  now  sulky : ‘ I tell  you,’  he 
writes,  ‘ what  is  for  your  interest ; after  that,  do 
as  you  please.’  ‘ You  may  get  angry  if  you  like,’ 
replies  Catherine,  ‘ but  you  must  admit  that  I am 
right’  The  causes  of  disagreement  are  some- 
times of  a rather  delicate  nature.  An  inspector 
of  the  troops  has  been  nominated  by  Patiom- 
kine.  Catherine  opposes  the  choice,  which 
she  conceives  to  have  been  made  for  a parti- 
cular reason.  This  is  how  she  reasons  the  matter 
out : — 

‘ Allow  me  to  tell  you  that  the  miserable  face 
of  his  wife  is  not  worth  the  trouble  you  will  have 
with  such  a man.  Nor  have  you  any  chance 
there,  for  madame  is  charming,  but  there  is 
nothing  to  be  gained  by  paying  court  to  her. 
That  is  a well-known  fact,  and  an  immense 
fatiiily  watches  over  her  reputation.  My  friend, 
I am  accustomed  to  tell  you  the  truth.  You  do 
the  same  with  me  when  there  is  occasion  for  it. 
Oblige  me  in  this  instance  by  choosing  some  one 
more  suitable  for  the  post,  one  who  knows  the 
work,  so  that  the  approval  of  the  public  and  of 
the  army  may  crown  your  choice  and  my  nomina- 


446  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

tion.  I like  to  give  you  pleasure,  and  I do  not 
like  to  refuse  you  anything,  but  I should  like  that 
in  a post  of  that  sort,  every  one  might  say,  what 
a good  choice,  and  not,  what  a wretched  choice, 
of  a man  who  does  not  know  what  he  has  to  do. 
Make  peace,  after  which  you  can  come  here  and 
amuse  yourself  as  much  as  you  like.’ 

Catherine  forgot  to  add  that  meanwhile  she 
was  amusing  herself  on  her  side,  and  that  this 
time  she  had  not  consulted  her  ‘friend’  on  the 
nature  of  the  new  amusement  that  she  had  found 
for  herself.  Zoubof  appeared  on  the  horizon 
and  proclaimed  himself  a formidable  rival  in 
the  conquest  of  the  imperial  favour,  and  even  of 
the  part  that  friendship  had  left  to  his  pre- 
decessor. Tied  to  the  other  extremity  of  the 
empire,  Patiomkine  bounded  with  rage ; he  de- 
clared that  he  would  soon  return  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, ‘ to  have  a tooth  taken  out  ’ {zoub  means 
tooth  in  Russian)  which  troubled  him.  He  did 
not  succeed  in  his  attempt,  lie  came  back  only 
to  witness  the  definite  triumph  of  the  enemy. 
He  returned  to  the  South,  chafing  at  his  fate ; 
he  was  struck  to  the  heart,  and  soon  death  came 
to  spare  him  the  last  humiliations  of  disgrace. 
Catherine,  nevertheless,  had  taken  all  the  trouble 
in  the  world  to  make  him  look  favourably  upon 
her  new  choice,  and  the  letters  in  which  she 
gives  voice  to  this  anxiety  are  not  the  least 
curious  of  the  collection  from  which  we  have 
already  made  many  extracts.  Compliments,  kind 
attentions,  delicate  flatteries,  even  unexpected 
outbursts  of  tenderness,  follow  one  another, 
coming  to  the  friend  already  sacrificed,  on  the 
part  of  the  victorious  lover,  of  ‘ the  child,’  the 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  447 

‘little  blacky,’  as  she  delights  in  calling  the  new 
favourite,  with  the  caressing  ways  that  age  has 
not  taken  from  her.  ‘ The  child,’  she  writes, 
‘thinks  you  are  cleverer  and  more  amusing  and 
more  amiable  than  all  those  about  you ; but  keep 
this  quiet,  for  he  does  not  know  that  I know 
that.’ 

But  Patiomkine  is  not  to  be  wheedled.  He 
sees  his  prestige  escaping  him,  he  feels  that 
this  time  the  place  is  taken  altogether,  and  not 
only  the  corner  of  the  imperial  palace,  near  her 
Majesty’s  private  rooms,  which  he  had  let  go  so 
lightly,  but  that  other  sanctuary  as  well,  which 
the  vows  of  bygone  days  had  led  him  to  hope 
would  retain  a place  for  him  for  ever.  That  too 
he  was  going  to  lose  ! 

Once  already  he  had  had  a serious  cause  for 
anxiety.  Among  his  rivals  there  had  been  one, 
before  Zoubof,  whom  Catherine  seemed  to  have 
loved  as  she  never  loved  before  or  after.  It 
seems  to  have  been  the  fate  of  this  extraordinary 
woman  to  exhaust,  in  all  their  diversity,  the 
whole  range  of  sentiments  and  sensations,  and 
the  entire  order  of  the  phenomena  of  passion. 
The  love  that  she  experienced  for  Lanskoi  was 
utterly  different  from  that  which  she  had  for 
Patiomkine,  or  for  any  of  those  who  filled  her 
life,  so  rich  in  varied  impressions.  But  Lanskoi 
was  not  ambitious,  and  it  was  not  given  to  Cathe- 
rine to  keep  him  long.  On  June  19,  1784,  the 
young  man  who  for  the  last  four  years  had  made 
the  joy  of  her  existence,  in  whom  all  her  thoughts, 
all  her  affections,  and  all  her  desires  were  con- 
centrated, the  most  petted,  the  most  caressed,  the 
most  feted  of  favourites,  was  attacked  by  a 


448  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

mysterious  disease.  The  German  physician 
Weikard  was  hastily  summoned  from  St.  Peters- 
burg to  Tzarskoie-Sielo.  He  was  a savant  of 
the  pure  Teutonic  breed,  little  used  to  delicate 
discretion  in  his  dealings.  Sitting  on  the  patient’s 
bed,  Catherine  anxiously  questioned  him. 

‘ What  is  it  ? ’ she  asked. 

‘A  bad  fever,  Madame,  and  he  will  die  of  it.’ 

He  insisted  that  the  Empress  should  leave  the 
patient,  judging  the  malady  to  be  contagious. 
So  far  as  we  can  conjecture,  it  was  a quinsy 
Catherine  never  hesitated  an  instant  between  the 
counsels  of  prudence  and  those  more  imperious 
ones  of  her  heart.  She  was  soon  taken  with 
a troublesome  uneasiness  of  the  throat.  She 
braved  it  all.  Ten  days  later  Lanskoi  expired 
in  her  arms.  He  was  only  twenty-six.  Hear 
the  lament  of  the  lover  from  whom  the  loved 
one  has  been  taken  by  death  : — 

‘ When  I began  this  letter,  I was  in  hope  and 
joy,  and  my  thoughts  came  so  swiftly  that  I knew 
not  what  became  of  them.  It  is  so  no  more  : I 
am  plunged  into  the  depths  of  sorrow,  and  my 
happiness  has  fled  : I thought  I should  have  died 
of  the  irreparable  loss  that  I have  just  had,  a 
week  ago,  of  my  best  friend.  I had  hoped  that 
he  would  be  the  support  of  my  old  age  : he  was 
attentive,  he  learnt  much,  he  had  acquired  all  my 
tastes.  He  was  a young  man  whom  I was 
bringing  up,  who  was  grateful,  kind,  and  good, 
who  shared  my  sorrows  when  I had  them,  and 
rejoiced  in  my  joys.  In  a word,  I have  the  mis- 
fortune to  have  to  tell  you,  with  tears,  that 
General  Lanskoi  is  no  more,  . . . and  my  room, 
so  pleasant  before,  has  become  an  empty  den,  in 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  449 

which  I can  just  drag  myself  about  like  a shadow. 
Something  went  wrong  with  my  throat  the  day 
before  his  death,  and  I have  a raging  fever ; 
nevertheless,  since  yesterday,  I have  got  up 
from  bed,  but  so  feeble  and  sorrowful  that  at 
the  present  hour  I cannot  look  on  a human  face 
without  my  voice  being  choked  with  tears.  I 
cannot  sleep  or  eat ; reading  wearies  me,  and 
writing  is  too  much  for  me.  I know  not  what 
will  become  of  me ; but  I know  that  never  in 
my  life  have  I been  so  unhappy  as  since  my 
kind,  my  best  friend  has  quitted  me.  I have 
opened  my  drawer,  I have  found  this  sheet  that 
I have  begun,  I have  written  these  lines,  but  I 
can  no  more.’ 

This  is  on  July  2,  1784.  Only  after  two 
months  does  Catherine  resume  her  correspond- 
ence with  Grimm. 

‘ I confess  to  you  that  all  that  time  I was 
incapable  of  writing  to  you,  because  I knew  that 
it  would  make  us  both  suffer.  A week  after  I 
had  written  to  you  my  letter  of  July,  Count 
Fedor  Orlof  and  Prince  Potemkin  came  to  me. 
Up  to  then  I could  not  endure  to  see  any  one; 
these  took  me  just  in  the  right  way  : they  began 
to  howl  with  me,  and  then  I felt  at  my  ease  with 
them  ; but  it  took  a long  time  to  come  to  it,  and 
thanks  to  my  sensibility,  I had  become  insensible 
to  everything  but  this  one  sorrow ; and  this 
seemed  to  increase  and  take  fresh  hold  at  every 
• step,  at  every  word.  Do  not  think,  however,  that 
despite  the  horror  of  the  situation,  I neglected 
the  least  thing  which  required  my  attention.  In 
the  most  awful  moments  I was  called  upon  to 
give  orders,  and  I gave  them,  in  an  orderly  and 


450  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

sane  manner : which  particularly  struck  General 
Saltykof.  More  than  two  months  passed  without 
any  respite ; at  last  some  calmer  hours  have 
come,  and  now  calmer  days.  The  weather  having 
become  wet,  the  rooms  at  Tsarsko-Selo  have 
had  to  be  heated.  Mine  have  been  heated  with 
such  violence  that  on  the  evening  of  the  5th 
September,  not  knowing  where  to  go,  I called 
out  my  coach,  and  came  straight  here  without 
any  one’s  knowing  it ; I have  put  up  at  the  Her- 
mitage, and  yesterday,  for  the  first  time,  I went 
to  mass,  and  consequently,  for  the  first  time  also, 
I saw  everybody  and  was  seen  by  everybody  ; 
but,  in  truth,  it  was  such  an  effort  that  on  getting 
back  to  my  room  I was  so  overcome  that  any  one 
but  I would  have  fainted.  ...  I ought  to  re-read 
your  three  last  letters,  but  I really  cannot.  ...  I 
have  become  a most  sad  creature,  and  speak 
only  in  monosyllables.  . . . Everything  distresses 
me  . . . and  I never  liked  to  be  an  object  of 
pity.’ 

An  English  orator.  Lord  Camelford,  has  said 
that  Catherii  e honoured  the  throne  by  her  vices, 
while  the  King  of  England  (George  III.)  dis- 
honoured it  by  his  virtues.  The  expression  is 
somewhat  strong;  but  it  may  be  admitted  that 
vices  capable  of  manifesting  themselves  in  so 
touching  a form  deserve  something  other  than 
absolute  condemnation. 

IV 

Favouritism,  as  practised  by  Catherine,  was 
not  without  its  serious  inconveniences.  On 
December  i,  1772,  the  French  minister  at  St. 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  451 

Petersburg,  Durand,  writes  to  the  Due  d’Aiguillon 
that,  according  to  reports  coming  from  the  palace, 
‘the  Empress  is  so  singularly  occupied  with  the 
affair  of  M.  Orlof,  that  for  nearly  two  months  she 
has  attended  to  nothing  else,  she  reads  nothing, 
and  scarcely  ever  goes  out.’  Two  months  after, 
the  crisis  is  not  yet  over.  ‘ This  woman  does 
nothing,’  says  one  of  the  courtiers  to  Durand  ; ‘ so 
long  as  the  Orlof  faction  is  in  power,  there  is 
nothing  to  be  done.’  Now  these  crises  are 
frequent.  In  February  1780  the  English  am- 
bassador Harris,  coming  to  Prince  Patiomkine 
to  question  him  in  reference  to  an  important 
memorandum  which  has  been  in  the  Empress’s 
hands  for  some  time,  is  told  that  he  has  come  at 
a wrong  time  : Lanskoi  is  ill,  and  the  dread  of 
his  death  so  paralyses  the  Empress  that  she  is 
unable  to  fix  her  attention  on  anything.  All  her 
thoughts  of  ambition  and  of  glory  are  forgotten ; 
all  care  for  her  own  interest  or  her  own  dignity 
leaves  her;  she  is  completely  absorbed  in  this 
one  anxiety.  And  Prince  Patiomkine  expresses 
his  fear  lest  Count  Panine  should  profit  by  the 
occasion  to  bring  his  ideas  into  play,  and  give  a 
new  direction  to  the  foreign  policy.  Three  years 
later,  it  is  an  illness  of  the  Prince  himself  that 
throws  the  Sovereign  into  a state  of  such  dis- 
tress, that  the  Marquis  de  Verac,  on  the  point 
of  leaving  St.  Petersburg,  cannot  obtain  his  fare- 
well audience.  Those  about  the  Empress,  seeing 
her  eyes  red  with  the  tears  that  she  cannot 
restrain,  beg  her  not  to  appear  in  public.  The 
audience  is  put  off 

When  favouritism  does  not  bring  affairs  to 
a standstill,  it  sometimes  puts  their  guidance 


452  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

into  hands  as  little  suitable  as  possible  to  manage 
the  helm,  those  of  Mamonof  or  Zoubof,  for 
example.  And  it  is  not  merely  the  hasty  advance- 
ment of  the  favourites  themselves,  becoming 
generals,  marshals,  ministers,  from  one  day  to 
another  : the  high  personages  thus  created  with  a 
wave  of  the  wand  have  in  turn  their  dependants. 
They  have  also  their  enemies  whom  they  seek  to 
put  in  the  background — as  Patiomkine  did  with 
the  illustrious  Roumiantsof,  thus  depriving  the 
empire  of  its  finest  soldier.  Sometimes  they 
push  forward  an  ambitious  man  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  a rival.  In  1787  Mamonof  is  alarmed  by  the 
appearance  at  court  of  a young  Prince  Kotchou- 
bey  : he  arranges  to  have  him  sent  as  ambassador 
to  Constantinople ! The  favourite  gone,  the 
consequences  of  his  elevation  still  last.  After 
the  death  of  Patiomkine,  his  secretary,  Popof, 
replaces  him  as  head  of  the  government  of 
lekatierinoslaf.  He  settles  everything  off-hand 
by  the  magic  formula  : ‘ Such  was  the  will  of  the 
late  Prince,’  He  inherits  the  secret  of  this  will, 
and  remains  the  instrument  of  his  ‘ maker,’  as  he 
calls  the  deceased.  Now,  Count  Rastoptchine, 
a good  judge,  declares  that  this  man,  though, 
during  the  lifetime  of  Patiomkine,  he  had 
governed  the  whole  empire  in  his  name  for  ten 
years,  had  no  aptitude  for  affairs.  Besides,  he  had 
other  engagements.  Rastoptchine  never  noticed 
in  him  more  than  one  quality  : the  strength  of 
his  physical  constitution,  which  enabled  him 
regularly  to  pass  his  days  and  nights  in  gambling. 
Meanwhile,  he  is  appointed  general,  chevalier  of 
three  orders,  and  incumbent  of  posts  which  bring 
him  in  50,000  roubles  a year.  In  February  1796 


PRIVA  TE  LIFE-FA  VOURITISM 


453 


Rastoptchine  writes:  ‘Never  were  crimes  so 
frequent  as  th§y  are  now.  Impunity  and 
audacity  arq  pushed  to  their  utmost.  Three 
days  ago,  k"ce^td^rr^  Kovalinski,  who  had  been 
secretary  of  the  War  Commission,  and  had  been 
dismissed  by  the  Empress  for  pillage  and  cor 
ruption,  was  appointed  governor  at  Riazan, 
because  he  has  a brother  blackguard  like  himself 
who  is  in  favour  with  Gribolski,  Plato  Zoubof’s 
chancellor.  Ribas  alone  steals  500,000  roubles 
a year.’ 

Favouritism  is  expensive.  Castera  has  made 
out  a formidable  sum-total  on  account  of  ten 
principal  heads  of  affairs,  adding  a doubtful 
supernumerary,  Vysotski. 

Amounts  received — 


The  five  Orlofs, . . 

Vysotski,  . 

Vassiltchikof,  . . 

Patiomkine,  . . 

Zavadofski,  . . 

Zovitch, 

Korssakof, 

Lanskoi,  . . 

lermolof,  . . . 

Mamonof,  . 

The  brothers  Zoubof, 
Expenses  of  the  favourites. 


Roubles. 

17.000. 000 

300.000 
1, 1 10,000 

50.000. 000 

1.380.000 

1.420.000 

920.000 

7.260.000 

550.000 

880.000 

3.500.000 

8.500.000 


Total,  92,820,000 


This  comes,  at  the  then  rate  of  exchange,  to 
more  than  400  millions  of  francs.  This  is  much 
the  same  as  the  calculation  of  the  English  am- 
bassador H arris. 

From  1762  to  1783  the  Orlof  family  received, 
according  to  him,  40,000  to  50,000  peasants  and  1 7 


454  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

million  roubles  in  money,  houses,  plate,  and  jewels. 
Vassiltchikof,  in  twenty-two  months,  received 

100.000  roubles  in  cash,  50,000  in  jewels,  a fur- 
nished palace  with  100,000  roubles,  plate  worth 
30,000,  a pension  of  20,000,  and  7000  peasants ; 
Patiomkine,  in  two  years,  37,000  peasants,  and 
about  9,000,000  roubles  in  jewels,  palaces,  pen- 
sion, and  plate ; Zavadofski,  in  eighteen  months, 
6000  peasants  in  Ukraine,  2000  in  Poland, 
1800  in  Russia,  80,000  roubles’- worth  of  jewels, 

150.000  roubles  in  cash,  plate  worth  30,000,  and 
a pension  of  10,000;  Zovitch,  in  a year,  an 
estate  worth  500,000  roubles  in  Poland,  another 
worth  100,000  in  Livonia,  500,000  roubles  in 
cash,  200,000  in  jewels,  and  a commandership  in 
Poland,  with  an  income  of  12,000  roubles;  Kors- 
sakof,  in  sixteen  months,  1 50,000  roubles,  and,  on 
his  leaving,  4000  peasants  in  Poland,  100,000 
roubles  to  pay  his  debt,  100,000  for  his  equip- 
ment, 20,000  roubles  a month  to  travel  abroad. 

These  figures  need  no  comment.  In  July  1778 
the  Chevalier  de  Corberon  wrote  from  St.  Peters- 
burg to  the  Comte  de  Vergennes — 

‘ The  new  favourite  Corsak  ’ (such  appears  to 
have  been  the  individual’s  original  name)  ‘has 
just  been  made  chamberlain.  He  has  received 

150,000  roubles,  and  his  fortune,  which  will  not 
last,  will  be  at  least  brilliant  for  him  and  burden- 
some for  the  state,  which  has  to  suffer  for  it. 
This  nuisance,  so  often  repeated,  spreads  dissatis- 
factiori^and  discontent  in  the  public  mind,  and 
the  result  might  be  dangerous  if  Catherine  II. 
were  not  more  powerful  and  more  farseeing  than 
those  about  her.  There  are  murmurs,  but  she 
rules  through  all,  and  the  ascendency  of  her  mind 


PRIVATE  LIFE— FAVOURITISM  455 

is  her  salvation.  . . . Lately,  in  a Russian  house, 
some  one  calculated  how  much  had  been  spent  on 
favouritism  during  the  present  reign  : the  total 
came  to  48  million  roubles.’ 

But  it  was  not  merely  a question  of  money. 
Prince  Chtcherbatof  has  excellently  characterised 
the  demoralising  influence  of  an  institution  which 
brought  into  prominence  excesses  of  this  kind  at 
the  highest  point  of  society.  The  favourites  of 
Catherine  might  well,  from  the  absolute  point  of 
view,  seem  only  the  equivalent  of  the  mistresses 
of  Louis  XV.,  but  the  absolute  is  out  of  place 
both  in  morals  and  in  politics,  the  difference  of 
! the  sexes  will  probably  always  make,  in  this  con- 
nection, an  enormous  difference  in  the  relative 
! bearing  of  the  same  facts,  and  if  Marie- Antoinette 
' found  painful  surprises  awaiting  her  at  the  court 
of  her  father-in-law,  these  were  probably  nothing 
to  the  impression  made  on  the  second  wife  of 
Paul,  Maria  Fedorovna,  when  her  residence  at 
St.  Petersburg  had  brought  her  in  contact  with  the 
official  scandal  of  the  Imperial  palace.  Besides, 
the  mistresses  of  Louis  XV.  were  not  supposed, 
in  France,  to  transact  the  business  of  royalty. 

There  was  certainly,  in  this  strange  woman,  a 
colossal  disregard  of  her  situation  in  regard  to 
the  eternal  laws  of  womanhood.  For  it  must 
be  observed  that  there  was  in  her  in  no  sense 
an  affectation  of  cynicism,  nor  even  an  oblitera- 
tion of  the  moral  sense,  nor  even  depravation  of 
mind.  Favouritism  with  all  its  consequences 
once  excepted,  Catherine  is  severe  in  regard  to 
moral  questions,  and  very  susceptible  in  regard 
i to  outward  decency.  She  values  chastity,  and 
\ at  time's  is  even  prudish.  One  day,  on  the  way 


J* 


4S6  CATHERINE  II.  OF  RUSSIA 

to  Kief,  she  requests  the  Comte  de  Sdgur,  who 
is  in  her  carriage,  to  repeat  some  verses.  He 
recites  a piece,  ‘ a little  free  and  gay,’  he  tells  us, 
‘ but  nevertheless  decent  enough  to  have  been 
well  received  at  Paris  by  the  Due  de  Nivernais, 
the  Prince  de  Beauveau,  and  ladies  as  virtuous 
as  they  are  amiable.’  Catherine  at  once  frowns, 
stops  him  midway  by  a question  on  quite  an- 
other subject,  and  turns  off  the  conversation. 
In  1788,  the  Admiral  Paul  Jones,  whom  she 
has  summoned  to  her  service  from  England,  is 
accused  of  having  taken  liberties  with  a girl 
belonging  to  the  court.  He  is  immediately 
dismissed,  notwithstanding  the  dearth  of  men 
capable  of  taking  the  command.  For  a similar 
reason  the  English  ambassador  Macartney  is 
obliged  to  leave  his  post.  In  1790,  chatting 
with  her  secretary  over  the  events  that  have 
been  taking  place  in  France,  Catherine  inveighs 
against  the  actresses,  whom  she  accuses  of  hav- 
ing depraved  the  morals  of  the  nation.  ‘ What 
has  ruined  the  country,’  she  declares,  ‘ is  that 
the  people  fall  into  vice  and  drunkenness.  The 
comic  opera  has  corrupted  the  w’hole  nation.’ 

She  is  conscious  of  not  having  taken  to  drink 
herself,  and  of  having  done  nothing  to  corrupt 
the  morals  of  her  country.  But  she  thinks  it 
quite  natural  to  write  to  Patiomkine  that  his 
successor  Mamonof — Sachenka,  as  she  calls  him 
— ‘loves  him  and  looks  upon  him  as  a father.’ 
And  she  is  in  nowise  embarrassed  in  asking  her 
son  and  daughter-in-law  for  news  of  the  King 
Poniatowski,  whom  they  have  seen  in  passing 
through  Warsaw.  ‘ I think,’  she  writes,  ‘ that 
his  Polish  Majesty  would  have  some  difficulty 


r I 


